ANT-NESTS. 



Pol\rhachis, Aztcca (Fig. 120), Dolichodcrus (Fig. 121), Cre- 

 inusto^astcr, Macroinisclia, M yniiicaria and Tetrainorinm, repre- 

 senting the three more specialized subfamilies. The genera Asteca 

 and Creuiastogastcr, the former a cosmopolitan, the latter an exclu- 

 sively neotropical group, seem to contain the greatest number of carton- 

 building species. Certain Indian and African species of Creinosto- 

 gastcr have long been known 

 to construct large spherical 

 or egg-shaped paper formi- 

 caries. Sykes (1836) and 

 Kirby (1837) described and 

 figured those of C. kirbyi of 

 India. Later Mayr (1878), 

 Wroughton (1892) and Roth- 

 ney (1895) published ac- 

 counts of the similar nests of 

 C. rogcnhofcri and cbcninns. 

 Another species ( C. artife.r ) 

 according to Mayr, builds 

 carton nests in Siam and 

 Singapore. In Madagascar, 

 according to Forel (18916), 

 the carton nests of C. rana- 

 valoncc may reach a diameter 

 of 30 cm., and C. tricolor 

 makes similar structures. In 

 the same island the nests of C . 

 schenchi are said to be large 

 enough to enclose the body of 

 a man. In Africa, according 

 to Mayr (1896, 1901), C. in- 

 conspicua. inarc/inata, stadcl- 

 inanni, opaciceps, hora and 

 ficringitcyi all make carton 

 nests. Tropical America is 

 also rich in species with simi- 

 lar proclivities. F. Smith 

 (1858) figured and described the paper nests of the Mexican C. nionte- 

 rjiiniia, and Forel (18990) has more recently shown that similar struc- 

 tures are built by C. siilcata, rauinlinida and stolli. Even in North 

 America C. lincolata, which usually nests in logs or in paper nests 

 under stones (Fig. 119), occasionally makes suspended nests on busht> 

 (Atkinson, 1887). 



FIG. 121. Carton nest of Dolichoderus 

 quadrispinosus of Colombia, ;4 natural size. 

 From a specimen in the American Museum of 

 Natural History. (Original.) 



