ANT-NESTS. 



21 3 



a couple of cones of Pin us ri^nla from Lakehurst, N. J., each inhabited 

 by a colony of C. nearcticus. 



Suspended Nests. The suspended nests, like the majority of epi- 

 phytic plants, are found only in the forests of the tropics. They are 

 true constructions throughout, consisting of earth, carton or silk, built 

 so as to enclose anastomosing chambers and galleries. Earthen suspended 

 nests, or "ant-gardens," were recently discovered by Ule (1905) in the 

 forests of Brazil (Fig. 179). They are constructed by several species of 

 ants (Aztcca olithri.r, ulci and traili and Caiiiponutus fcnwnitus), which 



FIG. 119. Nest of Crcinastogastcr lincolata, made of carton and leaves; Colorado. 



l /> natural size. (Original.) 



carry up particles of earth and build them into spherical masses, some- 

 times of the size and appearance of bath-sponges around the branches, 

 of trees. According to Lie, the ants even plant the seeds of epiphytes 

 in this earth, so that it may be held together by the roots and thus 

 acquire greater consistency for the support of the enclosed galleries. 

 This statement is open to some doubt, as it is evident that such sus- 

 pended earth-masses in a humid tropical forest may easily become 

 seeded with epiphytes without the intervention of the ants. Even in 

 temperate regions there is a slight approach to this kind of nest in the 



