September— October iSSS]. 



PSyCHE. 



Ill 



and destructive in Illinois than the En- 

 tomophthora, although seemingly less 

 so at present than the bacterial form. 

 It now seems likely that these diseases, 

 occurring as they do spontaneoush' 

 over a large area, will soon suppress 

 what has probably been the longest- 

 continued destructive outbreak of the 



chinch bug known in the histor^• of that 

 insect. Their present activity is illus- 

 trated by the fact that in a single field 

 in Southern Illinois dead chinch bugs 

 imbedded in this mold were found by 

 an assistant, Mr. John Marten, so nu- 

 merous as to suggest a recent flurry of 

 snow. 



NOTES ON THE WHITE ANT, FOUND ON THE BAHAMAS. 



BY CHARLES J. MAYNARD, NEWTONVILLE, MASS. 



Among the many objects of interest 

 that engage the attention of the Natural- 

 ist on the Bahamas perhaps the most 

 striking are the nests of the White Ants. 

 The first that I saw was in the vicinity 

 of Nassau in a cultivated field. It is 

 the custom among the natives upon 

 clearing away any portion of the low 

 growth of trees, that occupy the land 

 before it is tilled, to leave certain ones 

 which serve for bean polls, or as a sup- 

 port for the stem of the yam which 

 climbs to a considerable bight. The tree 

 usuall)- selected is the gumbo limbo, that 

 has long naked branches, the twigs of 

 which are only scantily supplied with 

 leaves. These trees are so very often 

 chosen by the ants as a support that it 

 is not infrequent to see two or three 

 nests in one field placed on them. The 

 color of these domiciles is nearly black 

 and as they are often of a large size they 

 form conspicuous objects, even when 

 seen from a distance. 



The nest, of which I have spoken, 

 was placed upon a limb some three feet 



from the ground, was about four feet 

 high by some two feet in diameter and 

 was very nearly of the form of an old 

 fashioned bee hive. This object in the 

 midst of the field presented such a 

 singular appearance that it was only 

 upon close observation that I convinced 

 myself that it was not something made 

 by the owner of the field, and placed 

 there by him for some purpose. 



Subsequent observation showed that 

 the ants prefer to build in openings, and 

 that the gumbo limbo is a favorite tree 

 on which to place their nests ; this may 

 be explained by the fact that the trunks 

 of these trees are covered with a smooth 

 bark thus rendering the covered passages 

 that the insectsbuildbetweenthe ground 

 and nests more eas}' of construction 

 than on rougher material. There are 

 two reasons, that appear plausible, why 

 the ants prefer open fields to less ex- 

 posed and more shady locations ; the 

 first of which is that they like the hot 

 sunshine and free circulation to di"y the 

 moist material which is used in the 



