No. 2.] HABITS OF PONERA AND STIGMATOMMA. 59 



Much of what I have said concerning the size and growth of 

 the colonies of Poncni may be repeated for Stigniatouiuia. 

 One colony taken at Colebrook contained only two workers, 

 and another seven workers and a female ; but nearly all that 

 were collected on Naushon Island were larger, varying from 

 ten to twenty individuals. As some of these colonies had 

 from four to six times as many cocoons as ants, the colonies in 

 the artificial nests by the end of August contained from forty 

 to sixty individuals, including in some instances ten or a dozen 

 females and as many males. 



Different nests of .5". pallipcs fraternize after a struggle in 

 much the same manner as other species of Ponerinae. When 

 my supply of vials gave out, while collecting the numerous 

 nests of this species on Naushon Island, Iwas obliged to put 

 some fifteen nests into a single glass jar. There was consid- 

 erable struggling among the ants of the different nests for a 

 few days, but eventually they settled down peacefully and 

 attended to their cocoons in common. Very few of the ants 

 were killed in the struggle, and these were usually small indi- 

 viduals. A portion of this compounded colony was taken in a 

 small dish on a day's railway journey, August 9. On arriving 

 at my destination I found most of the ants killed, and a few 

 that were still fighting died a few days later. The unusual 

 severity of the struggle in this case was probably due to the 

 close confinement of the ants in a small receptacle and the 

 jarring to which they had been subjected for several hours. 

 Four ants and a number of larvae taken at Colebrook, Conn., 

 August 28, were placed in a Naushon nest which had just 

 hatched its last cocoons. The larvae were at once appropriated 

 by the Massachusetts ants, and later in the evening a sharp 

 struggle ensued between the members of the two colonies. 

 On the following morning one Connecticut ant was found 

 dead, the three others had gone over to the enemy, and the 

 whole colony was busy cleansing the larvae. 



The eyes of the workers of Stigmatomma are even more 

 rudimental than those of Ponera. The reactions to light and 

 darkness, to contact and to moisture, closely resemble those of 

 the above-described species. The females, notwithstanding 



