72 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Pogonomyrmex barbatus (F. Smith) molefaciens Buckley. 



This common hillock ant occurs all over Victoria County. 

 The majority of the colonies clear a space aroung the hole 

 from 3 to 6 feet in diameter. Their runways are also bare of 

 vegetation and may extend 50 feet or more; one pathway 

 was an inch wide and extended 125 feet. The ants cut off 

 the plants in their way and remove the debris to the side. 

 On sunny days one can always see a steady stream of foragers 

 on these paths, those going homeward carrying either seed 

 or insects. Numerous large caterpillars and a cricket were 

 seen carried into the nests. Near the hole there is usually a 

 pile of seed hulls, which are brought out of the nest about as 

 fast as seed are taken in. As rainy weather approaches the 

 foragers all hurry home and no others go out. Several times 

 remains of this ant were found in the excrement of the horned 

 toad (Phrynosoma cornutd), and one colony was absolutely 

 exterminated before the enemy left it (Pierce). The males 

 and females swarm out of the nests in May and June, usually 

 just after a rain, covering the ground for many feet around 

 the nest. Here the mating takes place, after which the females 

 fly. When they alight, they cast their wings and begin dig- 

 ging a cell for a new colony. The males are driven away by 

 the workers or killed if they persist in returning. The swarm- 

 ing is a harvest for the birds. A colony of nesting jackdaws 

 was observed to clean up an entire swarm in a short time. 

 Woodpeckers destroy a great many. Doves have been 

 credited with feeding on this ant, since they have been often 

 seen picking on the ant hillocks. The senior writer has killed 

 several doves on the hillocks but has found no ants in their 

 crops. The doves were probably collecting the fine gravel 

 brought up by the ants. The workers are fierce in defending 

 their home, never running from an enemy. Their sting is 

 very painful, but not dangerous. 



Daring heavy rains or floods the ants collect on top of the 

 hillock and await the falling of the water. They have been 

 observed several times floating in a mass on the water anchored 

 to weed stems, the most important observations of this kind 

 having been made during the great storm of September 15 

 to 17, 1875, which drowned thousands of quail, grouse, rabbits, 

 and skunks. 



Leptothorax sp. 



On April 17, 1908, a complete colony was found in the hol- 

 lowed interior of a green fruit of Opuntia. Workers were 

 found March 19, 1909, in a dead ivtigoiXanthoxylum dava- 

 herculis (Mitchell). 



