328 Miscellaneous. 



and calm ; the ants came between 10 and 11 a.m., from the direc- 

 tion of the Chimney Rocks, a ridge of the mountain on the south- 

 east of the town. As to numbers, the answers of the men were as 

 follows : — " So thick you could hardly see through them ;" "swarms;" 

 " about 30,000 !" The ants struck the building at the height of 

 about 120 or 125 feet, and certainly assaulted the men. Whether 

 the attack was a bite or a sting they could not tell ; but it was some- 

 thing very uncomfortable, and they would not like to have it re- 

 peated. The ants were of two sizes — some larger, some smaller. 

 One of the men had saved some specimens, which were sent to Mr. 

 McCook, and proved to be the males and females of Myrmica lobi- 

 cornis, Nylander. These ants can inflict a painful sting, but pro- 

 bably attacked the workmen simply in self-defence ; that is, the 

 men happened to obstruct their flight, and naturally vigorously 

 brushed off the insects who lit upon them, who, in turn becoming 

 irate, applied their stings. Such a vast horde as this swarm con- 

 tained must have been composed of the winged inmates of many 

 formicaries on the mountain-side. This is quite in contrast with 

 th.e solitary flight of the Lasius flavus as previously described. 

 The pairing of the sexes was probably in the air, or after alight- 

 ing, as in the case of the agricultural ant*. Mr. McCook had 

 taken ants of the same subfamily Myrmicidae while they were in 

 the act of pairing in the air. 



In connexion with the above notes on the queen-life of ants, he 

 presented an observation reported to him by Mr. Jos. Wilcox. 

 This gentleman had seen a colony of some species of Camponotus 

 occupying a large dead cypress tree standing in the midst of a cypress- 

 swamp in Florida, at least 600 feet from the shore. The tree was 

 wholly isolated from the land and from all surrounding vegetation, 

 except another fallen cypress tree which leaned up against it. Evi- 

 dently a fertilized queen had at some time flown from the land to 

 this tree, where she had established the colony. The fact is inter- 

 esting as indicating the origin of formicaries from single queens, as 

 myrmecologists have supposed to be frequently, if not commonly, 

 the case — further as showing the ability of a large number of ants 

 (this nest was reported to consist of vast numbers) to maintain 

 active life under quite circumscribed environment. The insects 

 sheltered in such numbers by old trees may have furnished a large 

 portion of the food supply. The specimens brought by Mr. Wilcox 

 were taken from a colony on the land, which he supposed to be 

 identical with the swamp-tree nest, and were examples of Cam- 

 ponotus esuriens, Smith. — Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., April 29. 

 1879. 



* ' Agricultural Ant of Texas/ p. 143. 



