1881.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 25 



The ants directed tlieir movements to the same tree as on for- 

 mer forays, reaching it in seventeen minutes,, at 7.40 P, M. They 

 distributed themselves along the tree, hunting trunk, branches, 

 leaves. I could trace their forms, but when it is remembered that 

 I was wedged in among the thick, low branches of this dwarf 

 oak, holding up a lantern with one hand, and using the other to 

 clear space for it ; that the necessity' to avoid alarming the timid 

 insects compelled me to retain ver}'' inconvenient positions for a 

 long time, it will riot seem strange that I could find nothing satis- 

 factory until between nine and ten o'clock. At last, in course of the 

 slow investigations, I reached the extreme end of a branch on 

 the south side of the tree, and found a number of ants engaged 

 upon clusters of brownish-red galls. The ants were moving from 

 gall to gall, not tarrying for any length of time upon any. They 

 applied their mouth organs to the galls frequently. The dimness 

 of the light, and the distance which I was compelled to keep, pre- 

 vented me from seeing anything more than this. But it was plain 

 that the}^ were obtaining honey stores, for in the lantern light it 

 could be seen that their abdomens were alreadj^ much distended 

 by the sweets which they had lapped. 



The branch was carefully cut off without disturbing the ants, 

 taken to my tent, and the movements of the insects observed 

 during the remainder of the night, the branch having been so 

 placed as to prevent the escape of the ants, who were 3'et easily 

 under view. They, however, were so preoccupied with their 

 honey gathering, that they made little effort to escape. 



Directing attention to the galls, it was seen that some of them 

 were gradually exuding minute globules of a white transparent 

 liquid, which the ants greedily licked. I tasted the liquor, and 

 found that it was verj' sweet and pleasant. The object of the 

 nocturn'al expedition of the ants, and the source of their hone}'- 

 supply, were thus revealed. These galls are of various sizes, from 

 that of a currant downward. Most of them were of a Turk's-head 

 shape, some flattened spheres. They are placed in groups of two 

 and more along the stems of the branches ; they are commonly of 

 reddish-brown color, marked with black patches, but some of them 

 are of a brighter tint, almost rose-color, some of a livid yellow 

 marked with black, some almost green. By cutting off a few of 

 the clusters and removing them from the ants, I saw that the 

 sugar}' sap issued from several points upon the gall, which in some 



