610 Annals of the South African Museum. 



markings on the head and thorax". The colour is lost in dried or 

 spirit-preserved specimens. 



cf, 6-7 mm. More or less similar in colour to the §, sometimes 

 dark brown, very pilose, the hairs brown and semi-erect; wings 

 lacteous, hyaline, nervures yellowish brown. For the rest the charac- 

 ters of the genus." 



The descriptions of the $ & cf quoted above are taken from 

 Bingham's "Ants of India". 



This species has so far been recorded within our limits only from 

 Lourengo Marques (leg. K.H. Barnard). It is a decidedly tropical 

 species and is not likely to be found except on the northern half 

 of the east coast ol the S. African region. 



It inhabits trees and bushes, making its nest between leaves. It 

 has the remarkable habit of using its larvae in order to obtain the 

 silk with which the leaves are bound together to form the nest. 

 This is effected by several workers holding the leaves in position 

 while other workers, each bearing a larva in its jaws, move up and 

 down the edges of the leaves and force the larvae to emit the silk 

 from their glands. The silk-glands of the larvae of this species are 

 enormously developed. A fuller account of the methods employed 

 by this ant in making its nest may be found in Wheeler's "Ants", 

 pp. 216-221. The larvae of Oecophylla are exceptional in not spin- 

 ning cocoons. Whether this condition has been brought about by 

 the glands being exhausted during the earlier stages of larval life 

 cannot be decided at present. There are however, species of Polyrachis 

 and Camponolus which also use their larvae for the same purpose 

 as Oecophylla, but in some of these the larvae nevertheless manage 

 to spin cocoons before pupating, (see "Wheeler, Contr. Ent. Lab. 

 Bussey Inst. Harvard Univ. no. 95). 



(S.A.M., G.A. colls.). 



Tribe CAMPONOTINI, Forel. 



Including the two genera Camponotus, Mayr. and Polyrachis, Fab. 



Genus CAMPONOTUS, Mayr. 



Europ. Formicid. p. 35, 1861. 



Characters. 



§. Antennae 12-jointed, inserted at the sides of the frontal carinae, 

 some distance from the frontal area and from the clypeus; flagellum 

 filiform. Dimorphic or polymorphic, having two or three fairly dis- 



