A Monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. 455 



fine reticulations in between. Pilosity identical, of a faintly yellowish- 

 red colour. Abdomen and limbs rusty or brownish-yellow. 



"(J. 5"5 mm. Mandibles tridentate. Scape hardly longer than 

 wide. Head short, much wider than long, two-thirds as wide as the 

 thorax, which is much narrower than in the type. Epinotum without 

 tubercles. Second node with two small lateral teeth. Shining ; head 

 with a few striae and reticulations. Nodes reticulate. Of a dirty- 

 yellow colour. Posterior part of the head brown. A few brownish 

 cloudy patches on the thoi-ax and abdomen. Wings subhyaline, 

 faintly tinged with yellow, the nervures and stigma yellowish. 



" Basutoland (Wroughton). On account of the spines of the 2nd 

 node in the 1/ I place this form as a subspecies of spimdosa. But 

 the shape of the head and the entirely different <$ seem to indicate 

 that one is dealing with a distinct species. More material alone can 

 settle this point." 



Race messalina, var. nexa, Forel. (Plate VI, fig. 70.) 

 Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., vol. 57, p. 129, $, %, 1913. 



1/ . 5 - 7-6 - 6 mm. Head, thorax and nodes dark brownish-red, the 

 abdomen piceous. The colour is sometimes much lighter, in which 

 case the head, thorax and nodes are of a foxy-red, and the abdomen 

 dark brown. In all, the clypeus and occipital lobes are darker than 

 the rest of the head, and the basal third of the abdomen is paler. 

 Mandibles dark castaneous red. Legs and antennae dull reddish- 

 yellow, the tibiae and femora brownish in the middle. Pilosity short 

 and rather sparse, except on the legs and abdomen. The sculpture of 

 the head hardly extends beyond the anterior third, or a little behind 

 the level of the hind margin of the eyes ; the rest of the head is 

 smooth, shining, very sparsely and very finely punctured, except the 

 occipital lobes, which are fairly closely punctured with large, shallow 

 and piligerous punctures. The head, excluding the mandibles, is as 

 long as wide, widest a little behind the middle, plainly narrower in 

 front than behind. The occipital emargination wide, not very deep, 

 and not acutely angular at its apex. Posterior lateral angles of the 

 pronotum prominent, their apices rounded. Pro-mesonotal suture 

 defined by a raised line. Transverse impression of the mesonotum 

 shallow ; the scutellar region limited above by a transverse carina on 

 each side. Meso-epinotal suture deep. Dorsum of epinotum shallowly 

 excavated between the spines, and merging gradually into the longer 

 declivity. First segment of the petiole differs in shape from that of 



