330 The University Science Bulletin. 



these ants and protected by them, but other insects that are not 

 thus useful, and that can put up a struggle, are subjected to a gruel- 

 ling treatment before they succumb. And so it is not unusual to 

 come upon some unfortunate bee or beetle stretched out, more or 

 less tautly, as fire fighters hold a life net, by a circle of these ants, 

 each steadily and relentlessly pulling on a leg or other portion of 

 the victim's anatomy. 



The large genus Polyrhachis is best represented in the forest. 

 These ants also use silk in nest building, but usually mix in with it 

 small debris of various sorts. A large number of the species have a 

 glossy appearance. Some make a sort of ball-like nest among the 

 leaves of bushes ; others will cover over a hollow, as the cut end of 

 a bamboo, with a sheet of debris. Others still, often large species, 

 will build on the trunks of trees, where the nests are placed in 

 crevices or among the exposed roots. In these, the tubular aperture 

 to the nest, with its soft, flexible rim, was found to bear fine, more 

 or less inward-projecting hairs. Other nests may be high up upon 

 tree trunks, and measure as much as a foot and a half long by about 

 half as wide. They consist of a bulging sheet or curtain of silk, etc., 

 secured along its margin to the tree trunk. I remember such a nest 

 on the underhanging side of a tree with pale bark, and which color 

 it somewhat resembled. As the name implies, these insects are 

 armed, more or less, and sometimes in quite a fantastic manner, with 

 spines or hooks, which, as they will often stick into one's fingers, 

 may make capture rather awkward. Polyrhachis is only a fair 

 nipper, but the offensives and defensives are effected mainly by 

 raising itself upon its legs, curving the abdomen under and forward, 

 and the squirting out a fluid. 



The myrmicine ants of the genera Solenopsis and Phidologeton 

 can be very annoying insects, particularly during the wet season. 

 Solenopsis geminata Fab., also known as the fire ant because of its 

 smarting sting, is widely distributed in the tropics of both hemi- 

 spheres. It is a rather small, yellowish-brown species that often 

 swarm in the lowlands. In Phidologeton we have a genus of few 

 species that appear more shade-loving than Solenopsis and which 

 also live in very large colonies. The great majority of specimens in 

 a nest are of small size, but the queens and the largest neuters or 

 soldiers are comparatively immense. The ants are great travelers, 

 and their irregular columns, often encountered crossing a path, are 

 sparsely though conspicuously sprinkled with the great polished 

 soldiers. These big, lumbering creatures are not to be feared; it is 



