BY GILBERT TURNER. 133 



the same species, sometimes consisting simply of excavations in 

 the ground under logs or stones, while at other times they form 

 their galleries under a tuft of grass, covering it with a mound of 

 earth a foot in height ; sometimes the mound is composed of 

 vegetable debris, particles of soil, ifec, all held together very loosely 

 by a kind of web, but the latter is a rare form. 



The only nest of Folijrliacliis dives found was formed somewhat 

 in this manner, without any particles of soil, being built round a 

 small tree, unconnected with the ground, and about three feet up 

 the stem, some smaller branches and long blades of grass being 

 enclosed. The whole nest was oval in form, measuring a foot in 

 diameter. Another species [Polyi'lmchis sp. 1) covered in an angle 

 in a rock with a nest composed of the same material covered with 

 a similar web about six inches in diameter and almost circular, 

 the exterior being slightly coiivex and only attached to the rock 

 round the edge. The entrance to this nest was very remarkable; 

 it was situated about two inches from the junction of the nest 

 with the rock and protected by a short tube composed of the same 

 kind of woody dt^bris, raised half an inch above the surrounding 

 surface of the nest, circular in form, and not more than quarter 

 of an inch in diameter, but slightly enlarged where it entered the 

 nest. 



Two species, Polyrhachis oniata, Mayr, and P. Daemeli, Mayr, 

 build their nests in rotten places in timber or under loose pieces 

 of bark, but P. lcBvioi\ Rog., and P. rnsteUata^ Latr., form their 

 nests in the foliage by joining several leaves together with a web; 

 where the edges of the lea^•es are not in contact, the intervening 

 space is filled up by the web, which also lines the interior of the 

 nest; sometimes they take a single large leaf and turning it over 

 or even rolling it up longitudinally, form a small compact nest. 



The nests of the other speci(;s have not been discovered, but as 

 the specimens have been all captured upon the stems of trees, 

 most of them may be presumed to be arboreal in their habits. 



The males and females of this genus are most plentiful in 

 October and November, but on more than one occasion I have 

 found both sexes in the nests in August, and once found males in 



