1915] Cocoons Among Ants 327 
mangroves,’ etc. This passage came to my mind when I 
landed for an hour at Lucinda Point, north of Townsville, and 
found the nests of the green ants on the mangroves just as 
they had been observed by Capt. Cook. Later, while sojourning 
for a few weeks at Cairns on the Cape York Peninsula, I had 
an opportunity to become well acquainted with this ant. In 
the outskirts of this pretty town it may be found on all kinds of 
trees and bushes, building its nests in the leaves from a few 
feet above the ground to the inaccessible branches of the 
highest Melaleuca trees. The thorax and legs of the slender 
workers of C!. virescens are brownish straw yellow, the gaster 
bright green and the head tinged with the same color. Usually 
it prefers trees with rather thin, flexible, lanceolate leaves a 
few inches in length, which may be easily drawn together, 
but occasionally it makes its nests even on wattles with thick 
phyllodes. The nests are more or less elliptical and vary in 
size from a few inches to a foot or more in length and to eight 
inches in diameter. Smaller nests or tents, for the accomoda- 
tion of Homoptera, may consist of only a few leaves, but larger 
ones often take up nearly all the leaves on a small branch or on 
two neighboring branches. Some of the’ nests are very beauti- 
fully constructed, the leaves being drawn together and plaited 
in such a manner that the superficial layer forms a smooth, 
mosaic covering. The interior of the nest consists of the 
enclosed, more or less crowded or curled leaves. 
On several successive days I endeavored to observe the 
spinning habits of virescens by tearing small rents in the nests 
and waiting to see the ants repair them. Occasionally I saw 
some of the workers line up on the outside of the nest as de- 
scribed by previous observers, and draw the leaves on each 
side of the rent together, but I failed to see the spinning of 
the silken film across the gap. On October 16th, however, 
I came upon a remarkable nest in process of construction. 
It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the nest hung in the 
shade about 8 feet from the ground on a wattle branch, which 
I partially broke in order to bring the structure to a level with 
my eyes, where I could watch it without disturbing the ants. 
It was very large and somewhat flattened, about 14 inches 
long, 7 inches broad and 4 inches thick. The leaves (or rather 
phyllodes) had evidently just been brought together, as_the 
