234 



woods, almost devoid of herbaceous vegetation, but with a thick layer 

 of leaves, and other vegetable debris. 



Wheeler (Biol. Bull., Vol. 2, pp. 56-69. 1901) considers this a 

 rather rare ant, although widely distributed over eastern North 

 America. It is subterranean in habit, and "does not come to the 

 surface even at night." Contrary to the habits of mcjst ants this 

 primitive species has retained the carnivorous habits of the ancestral 

 forms, and the young are fed on fragments of insects. They do not 

 feed one another, or the larvae by regurgitation, as do the specialized 

 species of ants. They thus furnish us a glimpse at the ancient his- 

 tory of ants. Wheeler ('05, pp 374-375) states that this species oc- 

 curs only in "rich, rather damp w^oods, under stones, leaf mould, 

 or more rarely under or in rotten logs." 



A worker of Myrmica rubra Linn., subsp. scabrinodis Nyl., var. 

 schencki Emery (No. 140) was taken from the same patch of leaves. 



Creinastogastcr lineolata Say. (PI. LXII, fig. 6.) 



This ant w-as taken only once — in the upland part of the Bates 

 woods (Sta. IV, a) Aug. 20 (No. 118). Large numbers of the ants 

 were found in an oak-apple gall {Aniphibolips confincns Harr.) 

 lying on the forest flloor. XAHien I picked up the gall, many ants 

 came out and ran over my hand, biting vigorously. 



This is essentially a ground and forest-inhabiting ant, which 

 forms nests in the soil, under stones, and in logs, stumps, etc. It 

 has the peculiar instinct to make a sort of temporary nest out of 

 debris to cover the aphids and coccids wdiich it attends (Wheeler, 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 22, pp. 1-18. 1906). 



Several carnivorous staphylinid beetles of the genus Myrmedonia 

 have been taken in the nests of these ants (Wheeler, 'loa, p. 382; 

 Schwarz, '90b, p. 247). 



Aphcrnogastcr fidva Roger. 



A well-rotted stump in the upland Bates woods (Sta. IV, a) was 

 found Aug. 17 to contain a moist, felt-like layer of some fungous 

 growth, and on this was a large colony of snails (No. 71). In an 

 adjacent part of this stump was a small colony of white ants. Vermes 

 fuivipes Koll. (No. 72). A colony of ants which was in close prox- 

 imity to the white ants, proved to be A. fiiha Roger. As the gal- 

 leries were exposed by cutting up the stump, these ants were seen to 

 pick up the termites and carry them away, just as they do their own 

 young on similar occasions. Five pairs — the ant and the termite 

 which it carried — were preserved (Nos. 74-76, and 78-79). One 

 of the termites lacks a head. All of them were workers. Larvae 

 and naked pupae (No. 79) w^ere abundant in this nest, and workers 

 (No. 80) were abundant about the stump. On Aug. 22 another 



