THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



273 



Mr. Putnam, of Davenport, la., then read 

 his paper on N. A. Galiodes. 



Dr. Mark remarked that the poison 

 glands of the Solpugidae had formerly been 

 considered salivary glands. 



Dr. LeConte said that in Honduras he 

 had seen a species of Galiodes, or a closely 

 allied form, running about on a table in 

 which were many burrows of insects, and 

 running into these burrows, from which 

 occasionally it would draw a larva. He 

 regarded these insects as probably poison- 

 ous, for, at one time, finding that some 

 insect was crawling in his sleeve, he seized 

 it to crush it, and received a series of bites 

 at intervals of an inch and a half along 

 his arm. As he had not met with any 

 other insect at the place likely to attack 

 him in such a manner, he believed it was 

 one of these. 



Rev. H. C. McCook followed with a 

 lively and highly entertaining account of 

 his observations upon the Honey Ants of 

 the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado. 

 The Honey Ant was first described from 

 Mexico, in 1832, by Dr. Laws (?), who 

 called it Formica melligera, but this descrip- 

 tion was overlooked by subsequent authors, 

 and Wesmael re-described it, giving to it 

 the name Myrmecocystus mexicanus. Little 

 was known of it, however, beyond the 

 honey-bearing workers. Sketching, in the 

 first place, upon the blackboard, a diagram 

 of the topographical features of the locality 

 in which his observations were made, he 

 said that the nests were invariably found 

 near the summits of the ridges of land 

 forming the inner horse-shoe of the Garden 

 of the Gods, and placed upon the South 

 or South-east aspect of these summits. This 

 position seems to ensure to them almost 

 entire immunity from injury by the rains, 

 while the nests of Fogonomyrmex occiden- 

 talis, which are made on the very summit 

 of the ridges, are greatly damaged whenever 

 a storm occurs. Moreover, when storms 

 occur, the entrance to the nests of the 

 honey ants is guarded by a circle of senti- 

 nels, who stand within it, with their heads 

 pointing toward the opening, and who, 

 upon the occurrence of any injury, imme- 



diately proceed to make repairs. The nest 

 presents externally the appearance of a 

 mound of coarse red gravel, having at its 

 apex a hole about f inch across, extending 

 vertically downward from 4 to 6 inches. 

 The nest has been described as having no 

 mound, but, at least in this case, it was as 

 here described, whatever differences may 

 sometimes be occasioned by a difference 

 in the character of the soil in which the 

 nests are excavated. From the bottom of 

 this vertical hole the excavation is contin- 

 ued obliquely, and then branches out into 

 stories of cells. Mr. McCook had found 

 galleries extending a short distance from 

 the central shaft in one direction, and 8 

 feet in the opposite direction. The rooms 

 containing the honey-bearing ants are 5 or 

 6 inches long, 3 or 4 inches broad, and i 

 or li inches high. The floor is very smooth, 

 but the roof is left rough, just as it was 

 made by the tearing away of the particles 

 of the gravel in which the nest is excavated. 

 The average number of honey-bearers in 

 a nest is about 300. These cling to the 

 rough projections of this roof by their 

 feet, their enormously distended abdomens 

 hanging down. They are able to move 

 sideways along this roof, and thus, in case 

 the roof is slanting, to climb up. Their 

 movements are at times quite rapid. Mr. 

 McCook sought in vain for a long time to 

 ascertain from what source the ants ob- 

 tained their honey, as, although plenty of 

 flowers were found in the vicinity, no 

 aphides could be discovered. During the 

 day-time the ants were not busy. At sun- 

 set they began to come out of their nests, 

 and were tracked to a copse of scrub-oak 

 trees {Qu. radiata) some 50 to 70 feet 

 distant. Here, upon the trees, occurred 

 the galls of a cynips, from which a saccha- 

 rine secretion exuded during the night, 

 and this secretion was licked up by the 

 ants. In observing these galls Mr. 

 McCook found that fresh beads of this 

 sweet exudation appeared upon them 

 three times during the night. (At this 

 point some discussion occurred upon the 

 cause of this exudation, but the subject 

 was more fully discussed at a subsequent 



