ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



325 



and nil connected by underground passages or 

 (uiincls. Some of these rooms are within two feet 

 of the surface, whilst others are twenty feet be- 

 neath. The nest proper we have just dug out 

 covered a space fifty feet square, or 2,600 square 

 feet, and descended beneath the surface more 

 than liftcen feet, and the earth was completely 

 honeycombed. As the earth separating the dif- 

 ferent rooms was frequently not more than an 

 inch and a half thick, there were tliousands of 

 these rooms, and it would be impossil)le to esti- 

 mate the number of ants present, some old and 

 some just hatched (being as white as snow), 

 others very small but able to navigate without 

 assistance. "We also found many million eggs. 

 Like the spider, they seem to have great affec- 

 tion for their young and eggs, and even when 

 their nest is destroyed and sure deatli awaits 

 them all (for they, like the bee, are evidently 

 doomed when the female is lost) they will pick, 

 uj) their helpless young and carry them ofi", and 

 will die rather than release their burden. Their 

 nest proper seldom occupies a space exceeding 

 fifty or a hundred feet square, but radiating in 

 every direction are underground passages ex- 

 tending sometimes a quarter of a mile from liead- 

 quarters, and often passing under wagon-roads. 

 These are their roads by which or tlwough which 

 they convey the material in which are deposited 

 the eggs. This material usually consists of the 

 leaves of trees, shrubs and some vegetables. The 

 young leaves of the elm, china and peach trees, 

 of the I'ose bush, pea, carrot, strawberry, etc., 

 arc favorite subjects of their attention, and the 

 number of trees thoy will entirely denude in the 

 course of a single night (for they only work at 

 night and on cloudy days) is surprising. These 

 leaves are conveyed through these underground 

 passages to their home and deposited in one of 

 their chambers, and, I presume, they excrete 

 some substance that they xnit with the leaves, 

 for if a handful of the leaves is taken in the hand 

 and squeezed, a ball is made very much resem- 

 bling coarse l>eeswax, and when dried is as hard 

 as dry putty. I judge the leaves by their decay 

 produce a gentle heat, or, at least, maintain a nni- 

 form temperature whereby the eggs are hatched. 

 Formerly it was supposed that these leaves con- 

 stituted a store of food, but such is not the case. 

 Whether they feed upon vegetable or animal food 

 I cannot say. I have known them to carry off a 

 barrel of wheat in a few nights, and I have 

 seen them destroy and carry ofl' caterpillars and 

 other small worms ; and if a snake be killed and 

 thrown on the ground near their nest, they will 

 in a very short time strip every particle of flesh 

 from the bones, leaving a mere skeleton. 



To the stranger the sight of lli<-^c little marau- 

 ders when at work is an interesfin- nm'. inrniing 

 as they do a long procession of ninny llmn-aiicls, 

 closely following one another in the same iialli, 

 each with a leaf or portion of a leaf, much larger 

 than himself, elevated over the body, and resem- 

 bling an umbrella. 



Their bite and sting (for they have a minute 

 sting) is very severe in a tender part of the 

 human body ; much more so than the sting of a 

 bee, and as they rush to the attack when dis- 

 turbed, one must provide himself with boots and 

 tuck his pants into the tops when he proceeds to 

 dig out a nest. 



Benj. K. Townsend. 



Austin, Texas. 



[The ant referred to, which our correspondent 

 sent, is the Cutting Ant of Texas (Aita ferens, 

 Say*) . We present above figures of the queen 

 (Fig. 202) and of the worker (Fig. 203), bor- 

 rowed from the American Naturalist. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Edward Norton, the females of all 

 ants remain in their nests, except at pairing 

 time, when they appear for a short time in great 

 numbers, males and females, and then scatter 

 for the pm'pose of founding new colonies. To 

 prevent their departure, the workers cut off the 

 wings of many females, which then die or re- 

 turn to the nest. 



Dr. SuniichrasI -talcs lliul llii- ant simrms at 

 the coninirnccniciil uf I lie rainy M'ason (May), 

 and probalily in the ni-lit . inr cnc lln.ls the neigh- 

 borhood of llie toiinirary strewn with the dead 

 bodies of llie males and jeniales in the morning. 



Our eorrrsijcjiiilenl may lie right in stating 

 that, as with the bees, sure death awaits the nest 

 of ants if the female is lost, for few females are 

 found during the greater part of the year; but 

 there nuist be at the pairing or swarming season 

 above referred to, a great many females wliieli 

 then lay their eggs and die— the workers taking 

 charge of these eggs. 



We Rope Mr. Townsend will make fnither 

 observations on this subject, and we shall be glad 

 to receive more ijerfect specimens, as those ac- 

 companying the communication were all broken. 

 —Ed.] 



• This is Hie CEcodoma. Mcxicana of Smilli (Brit. Miis. t;!it , 

 VI, 185, ami Norton, Am. Nat., 11, p. (W. Mi/rmica Ver- 

 ona, Bucltli'y, I'roc. Aciid. Ntit Sci I'hil., IsUl, pagu M. 

 (Ecodoma Texana, Buckley, I'roc. Knt. Soc I'hil., \, |i. 



Labor on, good entomologists 



the >e(Tel< of tljcsc and >Imilar 1 



widely as we ma\ , IWr'we deem thesnhjeel of 

 insect pests to be the most important question 

 now before the agricultural community of this 

 country. — Scientijic American. 



