274 ANTS. 



easier than to find others I am surprisc-d \n learn that they have not 

 attracted the attention of other observers. Kspecially remarkable is 

 the tiny crater, which has the form of a cone | Kig. 151 | hardly more 

 than 4- s cm. in diameter and -.5-3 cm. high. The circumference of 

 its funnel-shaped top is 3-4 cm. across and its margin is always per- 

 fectly circular and entire, except in nests in process of construction, 



FIG. 156. Crater n\ Iscliin'iiiyrnic.r cockcrclli in Ari/ona desert. slio\vinj, r tin- lan:e 



fi-.i-ancc. (Original.) 



when it is at first scmilunar like the very small nests ol M cssor tii'C- 

 imi'ins. At the hottom of the funnel the small entrance is found at a 

 depth of j-^ cm. It is horizontal, attaining a length of 5 cm., a breadth 

 of i cm. and a height of 5 cm. In this first chamber the pupa, 1 are kept 

 for the- purpose of enjoying the warmth, and here I have found a 

 number of workers and winged females. Thence the gallery continues 

 to descend to a depth of 15-20 cm. and finally opens into two or three 

 chambers of the same dimensions as the first. These contain pupa? 

 and an ample provision of very small seeds. This ant is therefore 

 granivorous. I surprised a few of the workers entering the nest with 

 seeds in their mandibles, but they go out foraging singly and not in 

 files like M cssor and other genera. They are very slow in their move- 



