THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 13 



show a distended abdomen, which after a time becomes swollen into a 

 comparatively immense sphere, produced by the distension of the mem- 

 brane connecting the abdominal segments, this sphere or sac being filled 

 with a sort of honey. Another class of individuals in the community, 

 raised from the same brood of eggs, manifest no tendency of this sort, but 

 retain the usual normal form of abdomen. Both these classes of ants 

 are neuters. When the sacs of the honey-producers are full they are 

 somewhat like a transparent bubble of a yellowish color. They are unable 

 in consequence of their immense burden to leave their nests, and are 

 necessarily almost inactive, remaining fixed or suspended to the floors of 

 the galleries of their nests elaborating this honey, which, it is said, they 

 subsequently discharge into cells similar to those of the hive. It is also 

 stated that the women and children dig them up and enjoy their honey, 

 and that it is by no means unusual for these insects to be served at table, 

 the head and thorax with the legs being removed, when the distended 

 abdomens are eaten as a delicate sweetmeat. The neuter ant without the 

 distended abdomen is the active worker in the establishment. 



Our friend Krummeck informs us that they are found in considerable 

 numbers in the mountains around Santa Fe ; that the honey ants are 

 unable to move and are fed by the active workers. He says, " I have 

 sat by their nests and watched them working, for, at one time, six or seven 

 hours ; the workers carry leaves of different plants home, to feed, as I 

 suppose, the others that produce the honey.'' Mr. Krummeck has tried 

 to procure us specimens of the plants on which this insect feeds, but has 

 not yet succeeded. He does not think that the honey is deposited by 

 these honey ants in cells, as has been stated, but that they keep the fluid 

 in their bodies, and the workers feed from them, and that when the honey 

 in the sac of an individual is exhausted, it dies. In reference to the uses 

 made of this honey in New Mexico, he says that the natives make a very 

 pleasant drink of it, which is made in the proportion of three or four 

 drachms of the honey to six ounces of water. It has no commercial 

 value, is not brought to market, but simply made for their own use. They 

 use this drink among themselves in the mountains in cases of fever, where 

 medical attendance cannot be obtained. The honey is also used by them 

 as a cure for eye diseases, especially for cataract. 



Being very anxious to see this insect alive, Mr. Krummeck very kindly 

 did his best to gratify us in this particular, having twice sent us boxes of 

 living specimens, but the unavoidable delay and knocking about 



