20 University of Michigan 



The colony was in the sand beneath a partially buried pile of 

 pine chips. There was a single opening to the nest, which was 

 about six inches below the surface and was simply an empty 

 •chamber less than an inch in each dimension. A number of 

 winged males and females were present, the former outnum- 

 tering the latter about two to one. Both were very secretive, 

 .as indeed were the workers. In a very short time after the 

 initial disturbance not an ant was visible, all having buried 

 themselves in the sand or taken refuge under chips. The fol- 

 lowing day three workers of this species were collected beneath 

 .a dead poplar stub in a similar habitat on the south side of 

 the island, but no colony was found. On the twentieth a second 

 colony was found in a rather low damp hardwood forest. It 

 was located at the base of a very badly decayed stump, part of 

 the nest occupying one of the soft punky roots and part the 

 •damp black leaf mold. This colony was small — only a few 

 Tiundred workers, with about thirty winged females which in 

 this case were about twice as numerous as the males. It is to 

 he noted that in none of the colonies found were there any 

 •eggs, larvae or pupae. (SeeAphenogaster fiilva aquia for a 

 further note.) 



The species was not common on the island. It was one of 

 the most secretive forms, and was confined entirely to the hard- 

 w^ood forest, although there it ranged from the low areas to 

 the high dry ones without apparent preference. Its very light 

 yellow color makes it a conspicuous object in almost any en- 

 vironment, and this is particularly true in the black leaf-mold 

 where it seems almost to shine. The noticeably retiring habits 

 of the species could well be related to this fact. 



14. Lasitis tmibratus Nyl. subsp. inixtus Nyl. var. aphidi- 

 cola Walsh. — A single worker of this species was taken on 

 September 20 in a miscellaneous collection from the damp 



