T h: s 



North American Entomologist 



Editor: A. R. GROTE. Publishers: REINECKE & ZESCH. 



Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 600 Main Street, Buffalo, N.Y. 



Vol. 1. M:A.ir, i}-<«o. rso. 11. 



An Observation on the habits of the Black Ant. 



By John T. Humphreys, M. A. 



In the year 1875, while on a professional visit to the iron beds 

 of Amherst Co. Va., I saw before me in the middle of a sandy road a 

 moving colony of black ants {Formica fu sea). My instant apprehension 

 was that the line wonld cross over the road and disappear amid the 

 meadow grasses not far beyond, but to my great delight it turned 

 out otherwise. This then was a long sought opportunity for unob- 

 structed experimentation as the colony slowly advanced along the 

 centre of and with the trend of a dry clear road perfectly free from 

 grass, brush or other obstructions. The column was several feet 

 in length, a few inches in breadth, but sufficiently compact so as to 

 resemble under an August afternoon sun a beautiful stream of ani- 

 mated jet or tourmaline beads. 



It was rather too late to find out the location of their freshly 

 vacated dwelling, for not a solitary straggler i-emained behind. The 

 advancing column, in solid marching array, was fairly in a desert of 

 yellow sand in which I could find no trace of their exit from the 

 woods not far behind. The cause of their migration was soon ap- 

 parent, for kneeling down in the road, I noticed that each indivi- 

 dual bore along in its mandibles a newly hatched larva. The former 

 dwelling could not accomodate the increase of jiopulation and they 

 were therefore Argonauting to a new El Dorado. Their movement 

 was not hurried but regular and gradual, somewhat like that of an 

 emigrant train crossing a Western prairie. 



Picking up one of the foremost nuts (and removing its larva) 

 I dropped it about six inches in rear of the column. The little 

 fellow hesitating a moment started out at full speed, but on reaching 

 the main body he was instantly left to himself by a simultaneous 

 movement of his comrades, six or more, whom he had just rejoined. 

 None of -tliem stopj)ed to befriend or pity him or even ask the cause 



