THE DRIVER AXD LEGIOXARY AXTS. 263 



Bates appears to have been the first to observe the habits of the 

 hypogaeic E. ccrcum. The armies of this ant move "'wholly under 

 covered roads, the ants constructing them gradually but rapidly as 

 they advance. The column of foragers pushes forward step by step 

 under the protection of these covered passages, through the thickets, 

 and on reaching a rotting log, or other promising hunting ground, pour 

 into the crevices in search of booty. I have traced their arcades, occa- 

 sionally for a distance of one or two hundred yards ; the grains of 

 earth are taken from the soil over which the column is passing, and 

 are fitted together without cement. It is this last mentioned feature 

 that distinguishes them from the similar covered roads made by Ter- 

 mites, who use their glutinous saliva to cement the grains together. 

 The blind Ecitons, working in numbers, build up simultaneously the 

 sides of their convex arcades, and contrive in a surprising manner, to 

 approximate them and fit in the keystones without letting the loose, 

 uncemented structure fall to pieces." 



To the foregoing observations of other authors I may add some of 

 my own on the Texan species, dwelling on certain points not noticed 

 in the above descriptions. The workers of all the Ecitons I have seen 

 have a peculiar nauseating, fecal odor, which is also found in a few 

 carnivorous species of Plicidolc (Ph. antillcnsis and ccitonodora}. The 

 males and females, however, have a sweet and pleasant odor, which 

 probably accounts for the strong attraction they have for the workers, 

 for in the living colonies the latter always form a mass enveloping the 

 sexual phases. The males are produced in great numbers. Towards 

 nightfall on one occasion I witnessed the escape of the males of E. 

 scliinitti from a nest in the dry limestone soil near Austin. Throughout 

 the spring and summer months these insects fly to the lights at night 

 in great numbers. There is only a single mother queen to a colony, 

 but the workers readily adopt queens from other colonies of the 

 same species. I have never seen these females dragged along during 

 the expeditions, but it is probable that this is the case. Owing to their 

 smaller size they are undoubtedly more easily moved from place to 

 place than the huge Dorylus queens, and this may account for the fact 

 that none of the numerous females of E. schmitti and opacithorax 

 which I have seen was mutilated or abraded. The eggs are very small 

 and exceedingly numerous. The worker larvre are slender, and the 

 pupa? are never enclosed in cocoons. 



Xone of the Texan Ecitons forms very large or conspicuous armies 

 though they hunt in files like the large tropical species. Their food 

 consists very largely of the larvae and pupae of other ants. On many 

 occasions I have seen E. schmitti, opacithorax and crassicoruc plunder- 



