64 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^'o'- xxii. 



THE FUNGUS-GROWING ANT ON LONG ISLAND, 

 NEW YORK. 



By William T. Davis, 

 New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. 



In the last edition of the List of Xew Jersey Insects Prof. Wm. 

 Morton Wheeler has this to say of the ant Atta scpfcntrionalis 

 McCook: "Practically confined to the pine regions and is the nor- 

 thern extremity of the range of this ' cutting ant.' It is the only 

 one of the fungus-growing ants whose range extends into the state, 

 and its life cycle is of extreme interest." Among the localities 

 mentioned the most northern are IManasquan and Milltown, where I 

 found colonies of the ant on September 23, 1906, and September 29, 

 1906, respectively. These localities are south of the Raritan River, 

 but on August 19, 1909, the ant was found to the north of the river 

 at Bonhamtown, where I was collecting insects with Dr. Frank E. 

 Lutz. 



In his paper on " The Fungus-Growing Ants of North America," 

 Bulletin Am. Museum of Natural History, Vol. XXIII, 1907, p. 747, 

 Prof. Wheeler comments on the fact that this ant had not been found 

 on Staten Island, N. Y., and adds that " it may yet be found in 

 certain parts of Long Island." This prophecy was fulfilled on June i, 

 1913, when I found Atta scptcntrionalis resident on the warm slope 

 of the hill among the scattered trees near the hotel at Wading River. 

 There were a considerable number of nests and they appeared to be 

 quite as strong and well populated as those found in New Jersey. 

 The ants in many instances were engaged in bringing home for use in 

 their fungus gardens the excrement of the then common caterpillars 

 of Alsophila pometaria. I also saw some with pieces of the green 

 leaves that the caterpillars had let fall in their promiscuous eating of 

 the foliage of nearly every kind of deciduous tree in the vicinity. 



A second visit was made to Wading River in the latter part of 

 June. The ants were not at work above ground in the hot sun on the 

 24th but later in the day they came from their nests. On the three 

 following days their nests were found on several of the adjoining 

 hills that form part of the range extending along the north shore of 



