10 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



larger than the ants, yet the ants being fond of sweet would struggle, until they 

 succeeded in getting the sweetened metal on their backs, when they marched 

 homeward. They are not fond of salt, and would not eat bacon or beans which 

 had been cooked with it. 



Among these ants are some big-headed giants who apparently are rulers and 

 superintendents. I have frequently seen them move among the crowd here 

 and there, as if to see that all were on duty. Not working themselves, they 

 urge others to the task. It is said they punish delinquents by biting and shak- 

 ing them, but I have not seen any such penalty inflicted. It may be that these 

 large ants are the elders whose age exempts them from labor, and entitles them 

 to the respect and submission of the younger of this community. 



A gentleman in Bastrop County told me that to preserve his shelled grain and 

 meal from the " cutting ants " it was suspended in sacks by tarred ropes ; fresh 

 tar being occasionally added. It is difficult for them to shell corn ; hence corn 

 in the ear is rarely disturbed by the " cutting ants." I have not met with these 

 ants north of latitude thirty one degrees, but how far east or west they extend I 

 cannot tell. They are more numerous in the vicinity of rivers and water, but 

 I have never seen their abodes in a bottom subject to overflow. 



When I was in Lampasas County last October, at Swenson's Saline, on a hill- 

 side, I overturned a large rock, which left exposed a number of the cellars of 

 the stinging ant, (Myrmica malefaciens.) In some of these cellars were large 

 quantities of the seeds of the amaranthus and other plants, nicely stored for 

 future use. A gentleman in San Saba County informed me that, after a heavy 

 rain, the "stinging ants," at one of their dens near his wheat field, brought up 

 at least half a bushel of wheat and spread it around their outer door to dry, 

 after which it was again conveyed below. 



In this climate, where during the winter cold and warm weather alternately 

 prevail, many species of ants do not become torpid; but in their deep cellars 

 where the cold does not come, they lay up food for use in times of northers, 

 and when the warm weather comes their labors are renewed. It is seldom that 

 they are hindered by cold from work more than a week at any one time. 



Descriptions of new Species of Scolopendra, in the collection of the Academy. 



BY HORATIO C. WOOD, JR. 



S. b y s s in a, nobis. 



S. saturate viridis, capite castaneo ; antennis ? 18 articulatis ; dente mandi- 

 bular! gracile. dentibus labialibus 10, parvis, nigris ; superficie ventrali brunneo- 

 olivacea ; pedibus gracilibus, antennisque luteolis, postremis articulo basali 

 intus 3, subtus 2 spinis, processu angulari bifido vel trifido ; appendicibus anali- 

 bus lateralibus punctatis, singula spinis apicalibus 3. Long. unc. 3. 



Hab. Florida? 



S.parva, nobis. 



S. viridi-brunnea, segmentis plerumque saturate viride marginatis : antennis 

 viridibus, 25 articulatis; dentibus 8, nigris, obtusis ; pedibus postremis robustis. 

 articulo basali margine hand elevato, intus 5 spinulis, subtus 12-15 spinulis, 

 processu angulari magno, quadrifido ; appendicibus analibus lateralibus punc- 

 tatis, singula spinis apicalibus 4-5 et altero marginale armata. Long. unc. 3. 



The first segment of the body is the smallest, the third next. The sutures be- 

 tween sternum and episcernum well marked, those between scuta and episcuta 

 barely traceable. The preterminal scuta is very large, its lateral margins in 

 all our specimens are regularly arched. The terminal scuta has a strongly de- 

 pressed central groove, marking, we suppose, the line of embryonic coalescence 

 of the two primitive scuta. 



Hab. Mountains of Georgia. Dr. LeConte. 



[Jan. 



