Genus Eciton, Latr.

Formica, pt. Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. p. 364; Latr. pt. Hist. Nat. Fourm. p. 265.

Myrmecia, pt. Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 425.

Eciton, Latr. Hist. Nat. des Crust, et des Ins.

Ancylognathus, Lund, An. Soc. Nat. xxvii.

Camptognatha, Westw. Griff. An. King. xv. 516.

The maxillary palpi 2-jointed; the basal joint clavate, broadest at the base; the second joint a little shorter than the first, truncate at the apex: the labial palpi 3-jointed; the basal joint longest, the apical one shortest, its apex truncate. Workers, of two sizes; the larger individuals, in some species, having their mandibles protruded in an elongate curve, sickle-shaped, acute at their apex; the smaller workers having the mandibles short, curved, broad and flattened in the middle; their apex acute: the tongue and palpi, when in repose, covered and protected by the labrum, which is convex, large and transverse, its inferior margin rounded; head large, wider than the thorax, in some individuals disproportionately large; eyes very minute, placed somewhat backwards and within the sides of the head, not visibly reticulated: the ocelli obsolete in the workers. Thorax unarmed; abdomen with two nodes at its base. The males and females not known.