328 Bulletin American Museum 0} Natural History. [Vol. XXI, 



becomes perceptible. Emery has called attention to this mixture of 

 odors. The secretion makes the fingers sticky, which proves that 

 there is a resinous residue as in the case of Tapinoma. 



"Alien ants are fiercely persecuted by Liom-etopum,. With the 

 exception of Polyergus rufescens and Solenopsis geminata I have never 

 seen a more powerful or pugnacious ant. In Tatar-Bagardjik I 

 witnessed a spontaneous battle between a small and apparently very 

 young Liometopum colony and a colony of Lasius niger. The former 

 was up on the trunk of an elm, the latter down at the base and had 

 evidently been in the habit of visiting plant-lice on the tree. The 

 Liometopum. colony, which had probably only recently taken up its 

 abode in the elm, attacked the Lasius in serried columns, and with a 

 show of determination, sure and rapid movements, and cooperation, 

 succeeded in putting them to flight. The Lasius rallied but could 

 not manoeuvre and intercommunicate so readily. The rapidity with 

 which the Liometopum. communicate with one another and assemble 

 in force for the purpose of overwhelming an enemy is truly wonderful. 

 On such occasions a faint crackling sound is heard. Hardly any other 

 animal dares venture up onto trees inhabited by Liom-etopum.. Only 

 long-legged ants that can get over the ground very rapidly endeavor 

 to run the gauntlet in order to reach the plant-lice, which are heartily 

 despised by the Liometopum." 



There appeared as a postscript to Forel's paper on the ants of 

 Bulgaria a brief note by Mayr. In this he describes, and on an ad- 

 joining plate figures, a nest of L. m.icrocephalum found in a hollow 

 oak in southern Hungary: "The material used was finely com- 

 minuted, decayed wood which undoubtedly had been compacted by 

 means of some glandular secretion to form a brown substance like 

 papier-mache. This substance was built up into short curved 

 trabeculae which branched and anastomosed like the meshes of a net, 

 or in the form of small pasteboard-like plates, variously bent and 

 perforated with numerous openings as large as pin-holes or larger. 

 The paper nests of Lasius fuliginosus differ from those of Liometopum 

 mainly in that they consist exclusively of pasteboard-like plates." 

 In commenting on this observation at the end of the paper, Forel 

 admits that he and Emery probably saw only the peripheral portions 

 or outskirts of the Liometopum nest and that the paper portions are 

 probably situated in the very heart of the tree-trunk. In other 

 words, it is probable that the beetle- borings described by Emery and 

 Forel are not a part of the true nest of L. microcephalum, but are 

 merely used as runways or forecourts to the true penetralia in which 



