1887.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 29 



mound of considerable size. Over the summit and at tlie base of 

 these elevations are scattered the gates or openings into the gal- 

 leries Avithout the least attempt at concealment. The whole 

 formicary shows that its inmates dwell in security without any 

 fear of such special jjerils as those described. On the contrary, 

 the Fuscous colonies established in the near vicinity of their 

 hereditary foes have a marked tendency to omit or subdue eleva- 

 tions above the surface, the dumpage from interior galleries being 

 apparently scattered broadcast instead of piled above the central 

 formicary. Their gates are few and cunningly concealed, and 

 quantities of rubbish are scattered around with the evident inten- 

 tion of hiding the locality of their nest or making the approach 

 to it more difficult. It has thus come about with these unfortu- 

 nate blacks, as is the case with the human species, that the diffi- 

 culties of life and perils to person, offspring and home, have 

 developed a higher order of protective instinct. 



A similar faculty Dr. McCook had observed in the case of an 

 amber-colored ant, the Schauffiiss ant, Formica schauffussi. He 

 was watching the assault of a colony of Sanguines upon a 

 Fuscous nest in the grounds of his friend Mrs. Mary Treat, 

 Vineland, N. J., when he chanced to see a solitary individual 

 Schauffuss moving back and forwards a little distance from the 

 scene of invasion. Knowing that this ant is sometimes enslaved 

 by the Sanguines he directed his attention upon her and easily 

 perceived that she was putting finishing touches upon the closure 

 of a little hole that marked the gate of her formicary. A tiny 

 pebble was placed, then a few pellets of soil were added. Next 

 the worker walked away, took a few turns as though surveying 

 the surroundings, and cautiously came back. The coast was 

 clear. Kow she deftly crawled into the small open S2:)ace, and 

 the observer could see from the movements inside, and occasional 

 glimpses of the tip of her antenna3, that she was completing the 

 work of concealment from the inside. At last her task was done 

 and all was quiet. Just then a single Sanguine warrior, appa- 

 rently a straggler from the invader's army near by, or some inde- 

 pendent scout it may be, approached the spot. It walked around 

 the nest, which was indistinguishable from the surrounding 

 surface ; sounded or felt here and there with its antenna? ; passed 

 over the very door into which the Schauffliss ant had disappeared, 

 and although its suspicions Avere evidently strongly awakened, it 

 at last moved away. The speaker felt satisfaction that the San- 

 guine depredator had thus been bafl^led and that the instinct of 

 home protection had proved too much for the Avretched kidnap- 

 ping cunning. However, his pleasure was somewhat clouded by 

 the reflection that the slave-making scout would probably be back 

 before long, accompanied by the host of its fellows, and do its 

 work more surely. But the impression remained strong upon 

 his mind that the Schaufl'uss colonists, like the Fuscous ones 

 above alluded to, had decidedly modified their habits of nest 



