4. Myrmecia pyriformis HNS. Pl. X. figs. 1-6. B.M.
Worker. Length 8 1/2 - 9 lines.-Black, with an obscure tinge of red: the anterior part of the face and the mandibles ferruginous; the legs obscure ferruginous, with the tarsi brighter, varying in different individuals in brightness; the abdomen shining black, the nodes nearly black. Head longitudinally rugose; the prothorax with a transverse rugose striation, the rest of the thorax transversely striated; the first node of the abdomen rugose.
Female. Length 10 lines.-Of the same colour as the worker: differing only in having the thorax oblong-ovate, not strangulated in the middle, and with the mesothorax and scutellum rugosestriate; wings hyaline, nervures pale rufo-testaceous.
Male. Length 8 lines.-Black, with the antennae, mandibles and tarsi ferruginous; the head and thorax densely pubescent, the pubescence pale and glittering. Abdomen with a fine grey pile, and a thinly scattered pale pubescence; the thorax wider than the head, which is narrowed posteriorly; the antennae as long as the head, thorax and nodes of the abdomen. Hob. Australia (Melbourne; Hunter River).
This species very closely resembles the M. forficata HNS, but is certainly distinct, if the sexes are correctly assimilated, and all being taken at the same time and place render it probable; all the sexes are larger than those of M. forficata HNS; the male is strikingly distinct, and the head of the worker and female is of a squarer form and not narrowed behind.