88 JOURNAL OF THE 



No. VII. 



SINGULAR ADAPTATION IN NEST-MAKING BY AN 

 ANT, CREMASTOGASTER LINEOLATA"' SAY. 



[See plate at back of Journal.] 



GEORGE F. ATKINSON. 



A month ago I received an ant's nest, sent by Assistant En- 

 gineer Henry A. Brown to General W. Lewis, of Goldsboro, N. 

 C. The nest was built several feet from the ground on a bush, 

 in the marshes bordering Broad creek, Hyde county, N. C. 



This ant usually nests " under stones or underneath and within 

 the decayed matter of old logs and stumps. This material is 

 sometimes prepared by the ant as a paper-like pulp, and arranged 

 into cells and chambers, which are attached to the surface of the 

 logs.'^t 



This nest is about eighteen inches long by twelve inches in 

 circumference at greatest diameter. I made a longitudinal sec- 

 tion of it, and had a photograph taken, so as to represent both 

 the external form and internal structure. The ants were alive in 

 the nest when I received it. They were chloroformed before 

 sectioning the nest. I took from the nest about one-fourth pint 

 of adults, pupse, and larvae. They were collected in a mass 

 through the chambers within a space four inches in length of 

 the nest. This space is about two-thirds the distance from the 

 lower end. The material composing the cells in this space is 

 lighter in color than the other internal parts. It appeared also 

 in the photograph, as can be seen by looking at the right-hand 

 figure. Probably it will be visible in the photoengravure. 



The material used in making the nest seems to be the same 

 used by the ant in making its nest under stones, etc. Beside the 

 woody pulp, a microscopic examination seems to reveal also 



*The ant was determined for me through the kindness of Prof. C. V. Riley. 

 tComstock's Report on Cotton Insects, 1879, p. 188. 



