1978] 
Haskins — Highly Primitive Ants 
409 
flights from these vantage points before coming to rest. They then 
adopt a posture closely similar to that described for the Leptothora- 
cine ants, resting motionless with legs and antennae extended, gaster 
arched, and sting protruded or slowly alternately exserted and 
withdrawn. Characteristically, the arched gaster is rubbed by the 
tibia of one or the other of the third pair of legs. At the height of the 
flight season in the localities investigated (typically shady wood- 
lands) numbers of low-flying males soon appeared, landed on 
vegetation near the female in a high state of arousal, and after some 
running, one quickly copulated. Often, as in cases described by 
Buschinger, males attempted to mount one another. Following 
copulation, females characteristically exhibited reversed photo- 
tropism and geotropism and promptly retired underground. This 
behavior was observed repeatedly both with alate females naturally 
emerging from wild colonies, and with females reared in the 
laboratory and subsequently released in appropriate localities. 
Unfortunately, no determinations were made of the source of the 
pheromone. The prominence of the sting movements suggest that 
the source may well, as in Leptothorax, have been the sting gland, 
but the Dufours gland has not been experimentally ruled out at this 
time, as the source. 
Amblyopone australis: A. australis, widely distributed in Aus- 
tralia and in the Pacific Islands as far as New Zealand, is larger and 
“bolder” in demeanor and habitus than A. pallipes, but in general 
resembles it quite closely. It is, however, partly epigeaic and a much 
more generalized Arthropod feeder. In this species colony founda- 
tion by isolated dealated females has been demonstrated (Haskins 
and Haskins, 1951). During this period the foundresses forage 
episodically from their frequently-opened cells in the general pattern 
of colony-founding females of Myrmeeia. In the course of work 
designed to delineate the details of this pattern, alate young females 
eclosing from pupae collected in the wild were released under 
observation in appropriate locations. Some of these released fe- 
males flew briefly, but all soon adopted the “calling” pattern, 
although, on the occasions of the experiments, no males appeared. 
The Genus Rhvtidoponera 
Rhytidoponera is a generalized Ectatommine genus widely dis- 
tributed in Australia (its apparent headquarters), but extending to 
