190; 



Wheeler, Fungus-growing Ants of North America. 



■3; 



one another by means of short galleries. The chambers occupied the entire 

 layer, so that the total depth of the nest was very nearly 5 m. Some of the 

 chambers broken open by the pick, are represented in Fig. 13. In the 

 lowermost of these one of the large fungus gardens is seen ?/i situ resting 

 on the floor. From the lower series of chambers a number of galleries 

 continued down through another layer of clay, and finally united to form a 

 single long gallery, which ran at first horizontally and parallel with the 

 stream, but finally rose obliquely and opened on the surface of the bank 



Fig. 13. Exposed chamVjers of ne.st represented in the two preceding figures A large 

 fungus garden is sliown in situ in the lowermost chamber. (Photograph by Messrs. Brues and 

 Melander.) 



a few meters above the water level and at a distance of fully Go m. from 

 the nest! This remarkable tunnel was the entrance through which the 

 long file of workers brought the leaf-clippings to the chambers. The crater 

 openings on the top of the bank seemed to be used only for excavating and 

 ventilating purposes. That some of these, however, were the original 

 entrances of the nest was proved by the presence of small dilatations or 

 chambers only a few cm. in diameter in the course of the vertical galleries. 



[Sept., 19)7.] 47 



