FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 175 



NOTES ON SOME FUNGUS GROWING ANTS 

 OF TRINIDAD. 



By F. W. Uricii, F. E. S. 



IN his second paper on the CEcodoma cephalotes, Mr. Tanner 

 stated that there were two distinct species of Parasol Ants in 

 Trinidad and he was inclined to believe that there was also a 

 third. That he was not wrong- the results of my collecting have 

 fully proved. During the past eighteen months I have collected 

 seven distinct species, of fungus growing ants, of which no less 

 than four belong to the genus Attn or "Parasol Ants." The 

 specimens have been named by Prof. Dr. A Forel whom I desire 

 to thank for the readiness with which he helped me in studying 

 the species referred to. These fungus or mushroom growing 

 ants are already well known, so far as their ravages on cultivated 

 plants are concerned, but until lately no one seemed to know 

 exactly what the)* did with the leaves they carried into their 

 nests. Our late member, Mr. Tanner, was the first to give us an 

 insight into their domestic economy, but Belt was the first to 

 suggest the existence of a fungus by the passage li 1 believe .... 

 that they are in reality mushroom growers and eaters." That 

 this careful observer was not wrong \)v. Moller has ably proved 

 in his " Pilzgarten einiger Siidamerikanischer Ameisen " on the 

 fungus of the Brazilian species of Atta and Apterostigma, a 

 most fascinating work, teeming with interesting information for 

 the Mycologist as well as the Ant student. As 1 shall have to 

 refer frequently to this valuable work in l he course these notes, all 

 quotations not otherwise indicated are taken from it. As Mr. 

 Tanner has so ably given us a description of the niannerin which 

 the Ants prepare leaves for their '-mushroom gardens" and the 

 time of their development, I shall confine myself to describing 

 the Ants themselves, their nests and tli" parts of the gardens 

 they make use of. 



( lenus : Atta, Fabr 



= Cephalotes, Latr 



-== CEcodoma, Latr 

 1. Sub-genus : Atta., sens strict. Fain-. 



A. 8exdens, Linn. 



This species is very much like the following one, A. < 



lotes, but does no1 seem to be so common, I only found it once 



on the Tucuche* and perhaps it may be confined to the higher 



parts of the island. 



A. cephalotes, Linn. 



This species is very common all over the Idand, on flat lands 

 as well as on the heights. Its ravages are v, ell known to the cocoa 



