[905.] Wheeler, Ants of the Genus Liometopum. 3^9 



the ants keep and raise their brood. This casts some doubt on the 

 statements of Emery and Forel implying that a single colony of 

 microcephalum has more than one nest. 



It is evident that the American L. apiculatum has two peculiarities 

 not observed in the European form. First, it is more highly variable 

 than its Old World cousin, as is shown by the existence of at least one 

 subspecies and one variety, and second, the altitudes recorded in 

 connection with the localities in which it has been taken, show that 

 it is confined to mountainous regions The typical apiculatum and 

 its subspecies luciuosum are, in fact, known to occur only at altitudes 

 between 4000 and 8000 feet. They seem to be most abundant at 

 5000-6000 feet. It is true that most of the altitudes recorded for the 

 variety occidentale are much lower, but it must be remembered that 

 these are somewhat problematical. San Jacinto, Mariposa, and 

 Claremont, which appear on the labels of the Californian specimens, 

 are near the San Jacinto and San Gabriel ranges and the ants may 

 have been actually taken at higher altitudes but attributed to the 

 nearest towns. This dependence on rather high altitudes readily 

 accounts for the fact that L. apiculatum does not occur in eastern 

 North America. In that region, as I have shown in a former paper, ^ 

 the genus Liometopum is represented, both taxonomically and etho- 

 logically, by the genus Dolichoderus. 



I have observed many colonies of the typical apiculatum in the 

 Paisano Pass and at Ft. Davis, Texas, at Las Vegas, New Mexico, and 

 in the mountains about Manitou and the Garden of the Gods. These 

 ants, like the European species, are continually moving back and 

 forth in files, 2 often 100-200 feet long, over and under the loose 

 rocks, ascending and descending the trees and bushes. They run 

 with a soft, bounding gait, which, with their velvety bodies and warm 

 gray tints, makes them resemble a host of Lilliputian mice. When 

 disturbed they quickly turn their gasters up or to one side, towards 

 the intruder, and emit a secretion which has a rank rancid-butter, or 

 " Tapinoma" odor. 



In their choice of nesting sites they differ from the European form 

 precisely as the North American Dolichoderi differ from their European 

 congeners: they nest in the ground, often some distance from the 

 trees or plants on which they seek their food. I have seen nothing 

 to prove that a single colony of L. apiculatum occupies more than one 



' The North American Ants of the Genus Dolichoderus. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXI, 

 iQos, pp. 305-310. 



" In the Paisano Pass even on cold but sunny days in the latter part of December. 



