15 . Polyrhachis defensus ^HNS. Pl. IV. fig. 27. B.M.

Worker. Length 3 1/2 lines.-Head and thorax black; abdomen opake rusty-red. Head and thorax coarsely shagreened, the latter armed with two long stout spines in front and two similar ones at the angles of the metathorax. Abdomen globose; the scale of the peduncle with two long stout spines diverging and curving backwards.

Hab. Singapore. Java.

Some specimens from Java have the abdomen black.