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Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIII, 



if they are numerous and have a large brood, do not feign death but boldly 

 assail the intruder with their mandibles. 



The nests remain in fine condition throughout May and the early part 

 of June, while the young are being reared. The eggs are broadly elliptical 

 and embedded in masses in pure white hyphae. (Fig. 21.) These delicate 

 vegetable strands serve to keep the eggs together, thus enabling the ants to 

 carry them about in packets, afford an admirable protection and, as soon 

 as the larvse hatch, represent a supply of very accessible food. The older 

 larvae and young pupae, however, are always free from adhering hyphae, so 

 that their surfaces are smooth and glistening, till they develop the rough, 

 tuberculate integument of the adult stage. The brood is undoubtedly 



Fig. 22. Nest of Alia {Trachymyrmex) septentrionalis var. obscurior in sandy post-oak 

 wood near Delvalle, Texas. About i natural size. Tiiis represents the condition of tlie nest 

 during the dry summer. A few sticks and dead leaves cover the entrance just below the middle 

 of the figure. (Photograph by Mr. C. G. Hartmann.) 



moved from chamber to chamber to suit the varying conditions of heat and 

 moisture. Throughout the warm days of May and June it is kept in the 

 superficial apartments. On the morning of June 11, 1903, after an unusually 

 cool night, I found the ants and entire brood of several nests huddled together 

 in the lowermost chambers, but during the warm afternoon of the same day 

 the young had been brought very near the surface. At Miami, Florida, 

 the males and females were mature and ready for the nuptial flight as early 

 as May 9 ; in Texas I have not seen them in this condition till the second 

 week in June, and to judge from the date on the label of a winged female 

 in my collection the sexual phases of the typical form do not mature in New 

 Jersey till some time in August. 



