i6 University of Michigan 



The species is very secretive and moves with a curiously 

 rapid, erratic pace. It is also adept at burrowing, and fre- 

 quently uses, that means of escape when disturbed. It is inter- 

 esting" to note that the species was the only representative of 

 its family that could be found in the cranberry bog about the 

 pond. While no colonies were found in that habitat, a num- 

 ber of workers were collected in the dense growth of roots and 

 stems on the ground. 



camponotinae;. 



II. Lasius niger L. var. neoniger Emery. — Though less 

 abundant than the following species, L. neoniger was common 

 on the island. It was restricted to the dry sandy beach areas, 

 particularly along the west beach where colonies were frequent 

 among the roots of the sparse dune grass. Often there was 

 no exterior evidence of the presence of colonies, but this was 

 not invariably true. In a dry, sandy, enclosed area that had 

 been used as a hog pen and was entirely bare of ground cover, 

 twelve colonies were counted in a ten foot square, each with a 

 single entrance at the centre of the small crater that indicated 

 the amount of excavation of the colony. These mounds were 

 one to four inches in diameter and less than an inch high. It 

 was also noted that when bare spaces were chosen as nest sites 

 the mounds were present, but in the grassy areas none were 

 constructed. The species did not occur in wood, and was never 

 noted outside the one habitat mentioned, save of course the 

 migrating queens. The latter were found all over the island, 

 and numbers were seen and collected among the loose wet 

 stones on Rattlesnake Point, in the long grass about the pond, 

 and in the forest. This emigration of queens with their conse- 

 quent wide distribution took place about four days previous 

 to that of the L. americaniis, so that by the time these queens 

 were appearing the neoniger queens were no longer in evidence. 

 The latter were, of course, never as abundant as the former. 



