282 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECOED. 



to the fact that an ant colony is started by a single isolated female. 

 This requires some qualification, since, under very exceptional circum- 

 stances, a couple of females from the same maternal nest may meet 

 after their marriage flight and together start a colony. During 

 August, 1904, I found two deiilated females of Lasiiis brevu-ornis 

 occupying a small cavity under a clump of moss on a large boulder 

 near Colebrook, Connecticut. They had a few larv* and small 



cocoons and a couple of tiny callow workers Without 



doubt these twin females were sisters that had accidentally met 

 under the same bit of moss and had renewed the friendly relations in 

 which they had lived before taking their nuptial flight. This case is 

 of considerable interest because, as a rule, even sister ants seem averse 

 to such post-nuptial partnerships." 



Tapinoma erraticion, Ltr. — Several nests were found in the New 

 Forest in May. They contained two or three deiilated ? s, but no 

 beetles or other guests were found in them. 



Leptotliorax nylanderi, Forst. — A small nest of this little ant was 

 found in a broken bough on an ash-tree at Ryde, I. of W., in Septem- 

 ber. The ants were occupying the burrows of Priohium castaneuw. 



Solennpsis fiKjax, Ltr. — A fair number of specimens of this small 

 species was found at Blackgang Chine in August. They were at the 

 roots of Arenaria iiiaritiiiia, some alone and others with Lasiiis nii/e)- 

 and fiavus. 



Myrmecochorus Seeds. — In a very interesting paper* on the "Dis- 

 persal of Seeds by Ants," Professor F. E. Weiss calls attention to the 

 fact that ants may be of considerable importance in the dispersal of 

 plants. He regards it from a botanist's rather than a zoologist's 

 point of view, but in any case the subject is of great interest and will 

 bear further investigation. All true myrmecochorus seeds provide a 

 food largely of an oily nature, which attracts the ants. At Darenth 

 Wood I observed ants from a nest of Lasim fdln/inosns carrying seeds, 

 unfortunately those I collected were lost ; but on July 21st I made a 

 small collection of seeds from a nest of F. rufa at Chattenden. The 

 seeds were obtained by taking them from the ants as they arrived at 

 their nests with them. Professor Weiss has kindly named them for 

 me. 



T tola, sp ? — Several seeds. These are true myrmecochorus seeds 

 and possess an appendage, the elaiosome, which contains the supply 

 of oil sought after by ants. 



Cardials sp. ? — A thistle down. " Several species of thistle are 

 provided with an elaiosome at the base of the style just inside the 

 plume, so that when the latter breaks away, the food-body is exposed 

 in the form of what French writers have called the ' mamelon.' 

 This contains a plentiful supply of oil." Other seeds taken from 

 the ants were — Arrhenatherimi areiiacenin, false oat-grass, Holctis 

 lanatm, soft-grass, and a flower of the scarlet pimpernel. As these 

 do not supply any food it is difficult to suggest for what purpose the 

 ants carry them into the nest. 



CoLEOPTERA. — Dhianla deiitata, Gr., and Lowechnsa strtoiiosa, F., 



' The Dispersal of Fruits and Seeds by Ants " (The New Phi/tologist , vol. 

 . 1, 1908. 



vii., no. 1, 1908 



