188 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



Color. The abdomen is black, shining, except, at the base underneath, which is red- 

 dish brown ; the petiole, thorax, flagellum, and tarsus yellowish brown ; the head 

 blackish at the vertex, as also the legs, except the tarsus. The body is lightly pube- 

 scent, the abdomen being sparsely provided with hairs. The ant when excited has the 

 habit of turning its abdomen up, and even bending it over the thorax, as in Fig. 9. 

 The favorite nestingplaceisunderstonesor underneath and within the decayed matter 

 of old logs and stumps. This material is sometimes prepared by the ant as a paper- 

 like pulp, and arranged into cells and chambers, which are attached to the sur- 

 faces of the logs. This ant is widely distributed throughout the United States ; is 

 abundant in the Middle States. 



Texas. Queen, Figs. 7, 8. 



No. 5. Crematogaster clara. 



1870. C. elara, Mayr, Verhandl der k. k. zool.-l>ot. Vereins, Wien, p. 990. 

 1866. Oecodoma bicolor, Buckley, Trans. Am. Ento. Soc., Phila. 



Buckley's name has the priority over Mayrs, but as Smith had published a species 

 under the same name (Proceed. Linn. Soc., 1860, p. 109) several years before Buckley's 

 description, the name given by Mayr is that by which the insect is properly known. 



The habits of the ant are probably the same as those of C. lineolata. It was found 

 in the stem of the cotton plant, but was not observed destroying the worm. 



Texas. E. A. Schwarz. 



Genus SOLENOPSIS, Westwood. 

 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., i841. 



Mandibles enlarged at the extremity, and having the terminal margin d^ntated. 

 Antennae 10-jointed ; the two last joints very large, and together form a club. The 

 maxillary and labial palps have each two joints. Metanotum without teeth or 

 spines. The clypeus has two longitudinal ridges. The sting very large. 



No. 6. Solenopsis xyloni, n. sp. (?) 



Worker major. Length, inch, Fig. 10 ; side view of same, Fig. 11 ; view of head en- 

 larged, Fig. 12. The head, body, nodes, and abdomen are of a dark claret-brown color, 

 glossy, covered with stout hairs. The flagellum of antennae and the tarsi are a 

 lighter color. 



Worker minor. Length, -^ inch. Color as in the worker major. 



Female. Length, more than inch (9 mm ), Fig. 12. The body is of a uniform amber 

 color. The single specimen is unwinged. 



The largest number of specimens sent belong to this species, but no habits are noted 

 except that the ant kills the cotton-worm. In one bottle the caterpillar is preserved, 

 with a number of the dead ants still clinging to it by their mandibles. Solenopsis is a 

 mining ant, and lives in nests made in the groun<5. Some species of the genus oc- 

 casionally place their homes within or very near the bounds of other species of ants. 

 S. fugax, for example, according to Dr. Forcl (Swiss Ants, p. 233), lives, without 

 danger, in the very center of the formicaries of Formica fusca, Polyuryus rufescens, Tetra- 

 morium caespitum, &c. They are always enemies of their hosts. 



Genus MONOMORIUM. 



1 

 No. 7. Monomorium carbonarium, SMITH. 



Catalogue Brit. Mus., nymenoptera., Fonnicidae, p- 127. 



Worker. Length, -fa inch. 



This is a small, black, shining ant, and was taken in the act of killing the cotton- 



