S9.S7.96c: IS- 



Article I. — THE HABITS OF THE TENT-BUILDING ANT 

 (CREMASTOGASTER LINEOLATA SAY). 



By William Morton Wheeler. 



Plates I-VI. 



The large cosmopolitan, but mainly tropical genus Cremasto- 

 gaster is represented in the United States by some seven different 

 species. These are confined to the Southern and Southwestern 

 States, with the exception of the common C. lineolata which ranges 

 over the whole country from the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards to 

 an altitude of about 7000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. Like most 

 of our widely distributed ants, it shows a remarkable tendency to 

 vary. Emery ^ recognizes some ten different varieties and sub- 

 species. He finds, moreover, that this number could be increased 

 by recognizing some of the varieties which connect the subspecies. 

 From the extraordinary variety of these ants that have been accumu- 

 lating in my own collection, I should say that the number of sub- 

 species and varieties hitherto recorded might readily be doubled. 

 I must postpone, however, a detailed taxonomic study of these ants 

 till some future time. 



In such a protean form as C. lineolata we should expect to find 

 marked variability in habits. While this is undoubtedly the case, 

 this variability does not seem to be definitely correlated with par- 

 ticular color or form variations, but each single subspecies or variety 

 exhibits a considerable range of adaptations, some of which may 

 manifest themselves only in certain localities or at certain seasons. 

 Thus, in its nesting habits, the beautiful yellow and black var. clara 

 of Texas shows much the same range of adaptations as our common 

 northern lineolata (typical) and its variety cerasi, for all of these 

 forms may be found nesting either in the soil under stones, in 



• Beitrage zur Kenntniss der nordamerikanischen Ameisenfauna. ZcoL Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst. 

 VIII. 1804, pp. 280-286. 



[I] 



