568 Annals of the South African Museum. 



dorsal edge straight and furnished at each corner with a minute sub- 

 acute tubercle. Wings as in the 9 > but paler. 



Bulawayo. 



Forming fairly populous nests in the ground, the entrances sur- 

 rounded by a large amount of excavated material, more or less crateri- 

 form. 



A very. distinct species, easily recognised by the metallic lustre and 

 by the deeply-divided epinotum in the 9 , and by the long scapes in the 

 $ and $ . Excluding some species of Monomorium (in which, how- 

 ever, there is a slight suggestion of a metallic sheen on the abdomen 

 only) this is the only South African ant which has a metallic lustre. 

 In the Australian fauna, on the other Land, this feature is quite 

 common in many genera of Formicidae and of other Hymenoptera. 



(S.A.M., R.M., G.A. colls. ; types in my collection.) 



Var. aspeea, n. v. 



£' . This differs from the type of the species only in having the 

 head and pro-mesonotum very finely rugulose and dull, and in the 

 less pronounced greenish tinge. The abdomen, however, has the same 

 violaceous lustre as the type. 



Amatongas Forest, Portuguese EA. (S.A.M., E.M., G-.A. colls. ; 

 type in my collection.) 



A. capensis, Mayr. 



Verh. Zool. Bot. G-es. Wien, vol. 12, p. 699, £ , 1862. 



Reise der Novara, Zool. 2, Formicid., p. 56, <$ , 1865. 



Emery, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, vol. 9, p. 366, $ , 1877. 



" ^ . 2"8-3 - 3 mm. Shining, sparsely hirsute, black, the mandibles, 

 legs and antennae brown, the mandibles sparsely striate longitudi- 

 nally. Head and thorax very finely, superficially and coriaceously 

 rugulose, almost smooth. The 1st joint of the flagellum twice as 

 long as the 2nd. Epinotum with 2 blunt teeth. Scale of petiole 

 bidentate above, strongly emarginate between the teeth. Abdomen 

 almost smooth. The body much more compressed or narrower than 

 in A. Frauehfeldi, Mayr. 



" Cape of Good Hope." 



The only examples of the type-species which I have seen are a few 

 (ex S.A.M. coll.) which have been determined as such by Dr. Forel. 

 They agree with Mayr's description in all but colour, which is dark 



