170 Psyche [December 
and Rocky Mountains. The worker and female of this variety are 
large, brown or yellowish brown, with numerous erect or suberect 
hairs on the legs and antennal scapes. It passes over into the 
var. neoniger, which is smaller and darker, but has hairy legs and 
scapes, unlike our common and more xerothermic var. americanus, 
which closely resembles the European alienus in having the legs 
and scapes merely finely pubescent. At Cloudcroft sitkaénsis is 
everywhere abundant in the pine forests at an altitude of 9,000 
to 9,500 feet, and nests by preference under large stones. The 
females and workers have a peculiar and rather agreeable aroma, 
which is much stronger than that of americanus and much like 
the odor of swbumbratus. On rocky slopes, exposed to the sun, 
especially along the edges of the alpine meadows, the typical 
sitkaénsis is replaced by neoniger and forms intermediate in size 
and coloration. At altitudes of 7,000 to 7,500 feet or at higher 
elevations in very warm, dry situations the var. americanus and 
forms transitional to neoniger are not uncommon. At Cloudcroft 
I failed to find subumbratus below 9,000 feet. Its colonies are very 
populous and live under large stones, usually in .the shade of the 
pines. Its habits, like those of the other subspecies of wmbratus, 
are decidedly hypogeic. It does not make carton like the Euro- 
pean uwmbratus. This is generally true also of our eastern aphidi- 
cola. I have, however, found a few colonies of this ant at Cole- 
brook, Conn., and Ottawa, Ontario, nesting in dark brown carton 
nests in the centers of rotten logs. 
The observations proving that the young queens of subumbratus 
establish their colonies with the aid of sttkaénsis and neoniger 
workers may now be transcribed from my note-book: 
July 8 and 5. Four colonies of subumbratus were found under 
large stones. Two were of considerable size and the superficial 
chambers of the nests were full of black males and golden yellow 
females ready for the marriage flight. 
July 8. The marriage flight of swhumbratus must have occurred 
on July 6 or 7 as there were numerous deilated females running 
about among the stones on an open, sunny slope where many of 
the stones covered nests of neoniger. My son Ralph assisted me 
in carefully turning over the stones and examining these nests. 
In one area, about 200 feet in diameter, nearly every nest had from 
one to five deiilated subumbratus queens running about in the large 
