A Monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. 535 



C. constructor, Emery. 

 Ann. Soc. Ent. France, vol. 63, p. 29, $ , 1895.' 



" £ . 3-3'5 mm. Piceous, nitidulous, sparsely pilose, erect hairs 

 absent, head subglobose, finely striate in front ; the scape of the 

 11- jointed antenna reaches back beyond the occipital margin, the 

 club indistinctly 3-jointed ; thorax short and thick, not marginate, 

 pronotum obtusely bigibbose, mesonotum moderately convex, declivity 

 of the epinotum large, very smooth, forming an obtuse angle with the 

 dorsum, the latter fairly immd, with a short tooth on each side ; 

 sides of the first segment of petiole Insinuate, slightly narrower behind, 

 impressed in the middle above, the 2nd segment very shallowly 

 impressed. Hammans Kraal (Simon). Makes carton nest in 

 trees." 



"... In the shape of the epinotum, which is almost devoid of 

 spines, this ant recalls G. inermis and allied forms, from which it is 

 quite distinct in not having the 1st segment of the petiole trapezoidal. 



Fig. 49.— 0. constructor, Emery. 



The sculpture is feeble, so that the greater part of the head is shining, 

 not showing puncturation or longitudinal striation except under a 

 very high magnification. The thorax is a little duller, except the 

 declivity of the epinotum, which is smooth above, faintly punctured 

 and slightly concave below, longer than the dorsum, from which it is 

 separated by a much-rounded angle. The mesonotum is uniformly 

 convex, separated from the pronotum by a shallow suture, which em- 

 phasises 2 not very prominent bosses formed by the latei'al portions 

 of the pronotum. The 1st segment of the petiole is hardly wider in 

 the middle than in front or behind, the anterior angles well defined ; it 

 is longer than wide, and shallowdy excavated in the middle above, ..." 



Var. Kirbyi, Mayr. 

 Ann. K.K.N.H. Mus. Wien, vol. 10, p. 137, £ , 1895. 



" This variety differs from the type of the species by the presence of 

 epinotal spines, which are directed somewhat outwards and upwards, 

 and are about half as long as the width of the epinotum at the rneso- 

 epinotal suture. 



" S. Africa." 



