260 



ANTS. 



did not return until about four months later, and this reappearance, 

 which was of short duration, was followed almost immediately by a 

 visit which these insects made to my habitation, on the twelfth of 

 1'Vbruary, in the night. 1 have similar observations in regard to 

 another species [E. forcli] and I think I can conclude that the Eciton. 

 at least the two -jaries in question, are in the habit of forming tem- 

 porary nests or habitations for themselves, which they abandon from 

 time to time, distinct from those where are found the reproducing 

 sexes, and where is the place of the growth of the larvae and their 

 metamorphoses. 



" The nests are found in cool, shady places in great woods or 



FIG. 148. Chelioinynnc.v nortoni of Central America. (Original.) a. Soldier: 

 b, head of same from above; c, worker media; d, head of same; e, worker minima; 

 /, tarsus to show toothed claws. 



among rocks and are tunneled more often at the foot of, and among 

 the roots of, old trees. The earth or the fragments of wood, which 

 the ants cast out, sometimes form a dome above, but at times only an 

 irregular opening indicates the existence of a colony. 



' The extraction of one such nest, beside the difficulty of pene- 

 trating to the center through the entangled roots of the tree, is not an 

 easy thing, for at the first alarm, the soldados sally forth in myriads 

 and attack the aggressor with fury. 



