Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology 21 



black leaf-mold in the low hardwood forest . (See data under 

 Mynnica Punctiventris.) 



15. Lasius umbratus Nyl. subsq. minntus Emery. — Ort 

 September 17 a large colony of this species was found in a 

 punky stump in the dry hardwood forest near the north beach. 

 The stump was very soft from decay, and a considerable 

 amount of it was scattered about on the ground at the base as 

 an accumulation of earthy wood several inches thick and a 

 few square feet in area. On the surface of this decayed wood 

 hundreds of ants were hurrying about, apparently in a state 

 of great excitement, and when the earthy surface was slightly" 

 disturbed a number of winged ants were seen. The majority 

 of these were males, but females were abundant. There was 

 a hole a little less than an inch in diameter near the base of the 

 stump, and at the end of it and in a little chamber several 

 inches beneath the surface was a ball of winged males and fe- 

 males nearly an inch in diameter. Here again the males out- 

 numbered the females two or three to one. When the ball was 

 exposed to the light it gradually disintegrated and the indi- 

 vidual ants secreted themselves in the debris. The females 

 were the first to extricate themselves and hide ; the males were 

 slower, a fact not due to any defensive or protective instinct, 

 but to a greater sluggishness. A number of dead males were 

 noted about the nest, and several times workers were seen to 

 seize the abdomen of a male and pinch it severely, a habit that 

 might account for the dead males, for it resulted fatally in two 

 observed cases. None of the winged ants tried to escape by 

 flight, but ran like the workers. The stump was so soft that 

 it could be torn to pieces with the fingers and in it were quan- 

 tities of pupae, gallery after gallery above the surface of the 

 ground being literally crammed with them. A single female 

 and less than ten males were seen here. The colony occupied 



