LITERATURE FOR 1915 ON ANTS AND 

 MYRMECOPHILS 



MORRIS M. WELLS 



University of Chicago 



Bonner (1) presents a careful study of the wintering activities 

 of Formica picea, beginning his observations in January. At 

 this time the moor in which he made his studies was frozen 

 solid to a depth of 10-15 cm. The air temperature in the day 

 time was about 7° centigrade but it dropped to -10° at night. 

 Nests of F. picea. 'were chopped out of the frozen sphagnum and 

 the ants were often found clumped together in the center of the 

 nest and apparently frozen solid. An hour in a warm room 

 restored them to normal activity. Bonner found that the large 

 ants tended to form the center of the clump in the winter nest 

 while the smaller, younger ones were often outside and perhaps 

 not in the main clump but scattered through the galleries. Bon- 

 ner also reports some experiments performed to determine the 

 effect of submergence in water upon ants. His results confirm 

 those of other workers who have found that ants can live under 

 water for hours in some cases. 



Bonner (2) discusses the matter of the parasitism of Lasius 

 fuliginosus on L. umbratus in connection with the color of the 

 nest coverings and lining of the galleries and also with regard 

 to the behavior of L. fuliginosus toward Claviger longicornis 

 which latter is a normal guest of L. umbratus. He experimented 

 by placing a specimen of C. longicornis in a nest of L. fuliginosus. 

 The ants touched the beetle but did not pay any special attention 

 to it. Two weeks later he took the beetle out of the nest. It 

 had not been harmed. Bonner thinks that the beetle may start 

 development in the umbratus nest but that the larger number 

 of host individuals present with the coming in of fuliginosus may 

 result in conditions that are more favorable to the development 

 of the beetle than those existing in the nest when L. umbratus 



