360 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



[1880. 



Mr. Monis, who has been much interested in 



noting 



the habits 

 of ants, observed this species carrying the needle-like leaves 

 of the pine into their nests, and thereupon followed tlieir 

 behavior until he found it to be quite like that of the cutting 

 ant of Texas, Atia ferveus. Dr. McCook having been informed 

 of the above discover^-, made a journey to Island Heights in 

 the early part of September, 1^80. Unfortunately a severe eastern 

 storm set in before the train reached Tom's River, and con- 

 tinued during his stay with such rigor as utterly to preclude 

 observation of the out-door behavior of the ants. However, 

 b}^ woiking in the storm, protected by rubber garments and a 

 temporary shelter, he was able to make a study of the internal 

 architecture of a nest. 



The opening from the surface appeared to be a single narrow 

 tubular galler}', X, of about two inches in length, which pene- 

 trated the ground at an angle of near 45°, and entered a spherical 

 chamber, V — a sort of vestibule — about Ij inches in diameter. 

 Within this a few ants were found, nothing more. 



This vestibule communicated hy a short gallery, Y, with a 



second chamber or cell, 0, 

 having generally a spheri- 

 cal shape, but more irregu- 

 lar in outline than the ves- 

 tibule. It was about 3 in. 

 in diameter. Within this 

 were several small masses 

 of an ashen-gray, fibrous 

 pulp or papery material, 

 closely resembling that 

 found b}' him in the large 

 cells or caves of the Texas 

 cutting ant.^ This was 

 evidently the leaf-paper 

 formed by the manduca- 

 tion of the pine leaves. It 

 was exceedingly fragile, 

 even more so than the 

 leaf-paper of the Texas 

 Atta,and could not be kept 

 together in the original 

 mass for examination. It 

 appeared, however, to be 

 without the decided cellu- 

 lar arrangement first ob- 

 served b}^ him in the leaf- 

 paper of the Texas ant, 

 whose '• combs " — the analogue of those of other hymenopters, as 



1 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1879, p. 37. 



