74 TWO CHAPTERS OX AXTS. 



each other. Their color is rufous or red- 

 dish-brown, ami they are furnished with 

 stings like bees and wasps, and, like the 

 honey-bee, always die after inflicting a 

 wound, for their stings are torn from their 

 bodies and left in the victim. The pain in- 

 flicted is about the same as that caused by 

 the sting of the honey-bee. But they are 

 not as vicious as most stinging insects: they 

 will submit to considerable rough treatment 

 before resorting to this last resource. 



There are three sets of neuters in each 

 colony major and minor workers and sol- 

 diers $ also one wingless queen is found in 

 each nest. The head is very large, espe- 

 cially that of the soldier.* The workers 

 minor which are the true workers have 

 regular, well-defined teeth on the mandi- 

 bles, while most of the soldiers have merely 

 the rudiments or teeth entirely obsolete. All 

 the queens which I have found eighteen 

 in number have perfectly smooth mandi- 

 bles, without the least vestige of a tooth. 



Early in December, 1877, 1 brought a large 

 colony of these ants from one of the hills, 



* I use the term "soldier " for the sake of definite- 

 ness. The soldier approaches the queen in size, and 

 in mauy of the specimens the head is larger than that 

 of the queen. 



