August, igoi 



PSYCHE. 



235 



perfectly distinct — no transition form. 

 I destroyed one of their nests to the 

 bottom and was so fortunate as to find 

 there males and females of nigcr and 

 the male oi_fltiTi/s, the latter larger and 

 paler. There is scarcely any doubt pos- 

 sible as to the following : This must be 

 one of those rare cases of abnormal, 

 mixed, natural formicaries which I de- 

 scribed in my " Fourmis de la Suisse." 

 But this case is certainly not of pre- 

 datory origin, nor due to the carrying 

 off of pupae as is the case with Formica. 

 It was without doubt due to the for- 

 tuitous association of two fertile females, 

 one of each of the two species, a state of 

 affairs which I have already admitted 

 possible for certain formicaries of 

 trunckolo-prateitsis and which is prob- 

 able also in the association of Tapinoma- 

 Bothrioinyrmex which I have described 

 (I.e.). 



The American species of Tapinoiiui 

 live exactly like those of Europe and 

 possess the same odor. 



At Morganton I found a little Iri- 

 domynnex related to kumilis., which runs 

 with astonishing rapidity, following in 

 file, hides its nest in the turf (like Afc- 

 Cooki) or under a stone, and climbs 

 trees to seek its food. It has a very 

 strong odor of Tapinoma. 



The American Ponera coardata is very 

 common in decayed trunks and under 

 stones. I have made an observation 

 upon it which is verj' difficult to make 

 in Europe ; but here it is quite constant. 

 When one uncovers a nest of Ponera in 

 a rotten tree one sees their yellow co- 



coons gathered in a corner, quite 

 abandoned by the workers, which do 

 not try to save them or collect them. 

 On the contrary they take the greatest 

 care of the larvae, which they carry off 

 and hide. I suspect that among these 

 ants, less social than others, the pupae 

 escape unaided from their cocoons, with- 

 out the assistance of the workers. 



I found two Amblyopona in a rotten 

 trunk and a Procci-atitim under the bark. 



Two days ago, in cutting with a chisel 

 into a rotten trunk in a pine wood, what 

 was my surprise to find here at Faisons 

 some Ecitoii. Two blows more showed 

 me that I had had the good luck to fall 

 upon a nest with its thousands of larvae 

 and pupae. 



To my great surprise all the pupae 

 were naked, without cocoons, contrary 

 to those which have been described and 

 sent to me by W. Miiller with Ecitoii 

 bitrchclli. This little Ecifoti, of a reddish 

 yellow, is related to califoniiciiin and 

 without doubt described by Emery. I 

 at once set to work to demolish the nest 

 in order to discover the female, which is 

 yet unknown (with the exception of 

 Pseudodichthadia iticerta Andre, of which 

 the worker is unknown). 



The trunk was literally impregnated 

 with Eciton for a foot above and a foot 

 below the soil. Not a square centimeter 

 of rotten wood was exempt. I demolish- 

 ed everything, down to the ground under 

 the roots, without finding the female. 

 Finally, in looking over the debris, I 

 found it, a long, broad, blind and wing- 

 less creature with immensely distended 



