694 Bulletin American Museum of Natured History. [Vol. XXIII, 



In 1900 Moreno i:)ublished some observations on the Mexican Afta 

 (probably fcrvens) but these add nothing of value to what was previously 

 known. 



In 1901 I recorded a iex\ notes on Atta fervens and Cijpliomyrmex rimo- 

 sus (Icntafus which I observed in Mexico. I was able to convince myself 

 that the statements of Urich, Forel and Emery to the effect that the latter 

 species makes no fungus-garden, are erroneous. This ant constructs a 

 fungus garden with caterpillar excrement and cultivates a peculiar fungus 

 consisting of small yellow nodules, which have been overlooked by previous 

 investigators. More recently (1905a) I have found that other varieties and 

 subspecies of C. rimosus in Texas, Florida, the Bahamas, Porto Rico and 

 Culebra have the same habit. In this same paper I also described briefly 

 the habits of Trachi/myrmex jamaicensis, and in a subsequent paper (1905^) 

 also those of T. sepfentrionalis. A fuller account of these various species 

 will be found in the third part of the present article. 



M. T. Cook (1906) has very recently studied the habits of Atta insularis 

 and has published a few notes on the ravages of this ant in the plantations 

 of Cuba. 



The preceding paragraphs deal almost exclusively with observations 

 on adult colonics of the Attii and the constitution and care of their fungus 

 gardens. As soon as these habits had been demonstrated, the question 

 naturally arose as to how the ants first come into possession of the fungi 

 which they cultivate with such marvellous skill and assiduity. The labors 

 of the South American naturalists Sampaio, von Ihering, Goeldi and Jakob 

 Huber have supplied the answer to this interesting question. 



Sampaio (1894) on digging up an xitta female ten days after the nuptial 

 flight, found her in a cavity v\'ith two small white masses, one consisting 

 of 50-60 eggs, the other of a filamentous svibstance which was the young 

 fungus garden, though not recognized as such. Three and one half months 

 after the nuptial flight he excavated another nest which had an opening to 

 the surface of the soil. He found numerous workers of three different sizes 

 but all smaller than the corresponding castes in adult colonies. They were 

 already cutting leaves and had a fungus garden about 30 cubic centimeters 

 in volume. He estimated the number of workers at 150 to 170, that of the 

 larvfe and pupfe at about 150 and the eggs at 50. 



The much more important observations of von Ihering (189S), including 

 his brilliant discovery of the method of transfer of the fungus culture from 

 the maternal to the daughter colony, deserve fuller consideration. Accord- 

 ing to this observer there are repeated nuptial flights of the Brazilian Atta 

 sexdens from the end of October to the middle of December. These flights 

 are essentiallv like those of other ants. On descending to the earth the 



