212 



AN'l 



The soldier moves aside to let the worker pass out and then at once 

 moves its head hack into the circular aperture. In order to enter, the 

 returning worker ha- to stroke the soldier's truncated forehead, and the 

 guardian again >tep.s aside for a moment. Though most abundant in 



the oak-galls, C. ctu>la/a occasionally nests in the hard wood of tree 

 trunks and branches (Carya myristicccfolia) , apparently in preformed 



larval burrows. This seems to be the usual 

 method of nesting of C. pvlartes of Texas. 

 Forel has described very similar nests and 

 habits for the European C. tntncata ( 1874, 

 1893/2, 1894^, 1903/1 which nests in twigs 

 of the walnut tree. More recently I have 



j 



seen another species (C. citlmicola) nest- 

 ing in the hollow culms of sedges (Cladinm 

 janioiccnsc) in the "swashes" of the Ba- 

 hamas. In this case the nest often extends 

 over several internodes of the plant and 

 each is perforated with a circular opening 

 occluded by the head of a soldier (Fig. 

 118). The slightly truncated heads of 

 the soldiers of many wood-inhabiting 

 species of Camponotus suggest very 

 similar habits. The same inference may 

 be drawn from the structure of the head 

 in the soldiers of a peculiar Texan Pliei- 

 dolc (Ph. lamia) which nests in slender 

 galleries under stones. In this insect the 

 anterior surface of the head is remark- 

 ably like that of Colobopsis and may be 

 said to present a striking case of converg- 

 ence ( Fig. 3//). 



The old galls on our northern oaks, and especially those of Eurasia 

 solida^inis and Gclcchia gall&solidaginis on the stems of golden rod 

 (Solidago) are often tenanted by colonies of Leptothorax curvispinosus 

 ( Patton, 18/9). This ant, however, is more frequently found in hollow 

 twigs, especially in those from which the pith has been removed by 

 sriiall carpenter bees (Cercitina dnpla). Even dried seed-pods, nuts and 

 pine-cones may furnish convenient quarters for ant colonies. Lcpto- 

 tlwra.r longispinosus occasionally nests in hickory nuts from which the 

 kernel has been removed by squirrels. Professor C. H. Eigenmann sent 

 me from Cuba some dried bean-pods containing colonies of the pale 

 yellow Camponotus inccqnalis; and Air. AYilliam T. Davis has given me 



FIG. 1 1 8. Pieces of culms 

 of a sedge (Cladium jainai- 

 censc) inhabited by the Ba- 

 haman Colobopsis citlmicola. 

 (Original.) A, Showing the 

 perfectly circular nest open- 

 ing ; B, same closed with the 

 truncated head of the soldier 

 Colobopsis. 



