1 2 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



acter of the workings of this ant in elm and balsam. The cav- 

 ernous galleries often partly encircled the central vertical tunnel, 

 and in some places the tunnels that ran up the tree at the outer 

 limits of the nest would extend for comparatively long distances 

 without any side chambers. This nest ended in the solid trunk, 

 several of the galleries reaching nearly the same height from the 

 ground. The tunnel occupying the center of the trunk was ex- 

 ceeded by one of the outer ones within one and one-half inches 

 of the bark. There were chambers nearly at the top of the nest. 



Another nest was found in the same piece of woodland, that 

 had been maintained by the ants over thirty feet from the ground. 

 They had a long way to go to reach their door. These ants will 

 work in cedar, white pine, pitch pine, balsam, elm, willow, cherry, 

 maple, hickory, and oak, and they no doubt drill their tunnels suc- 

 cessfully in the solid wood of any other native trees. 



These observations on the nests of the carpenter ant may seem 

 to traverse well known ground. It has, however, been recently 

 stated that this species has no definite architecture, but follows 

 the galleries of the wood boring larvse, merely cleaning them out, 

 and doing little excavating on its own account. While the ants 

 no doubt first enter the trees through some previous openings, 

 such as the galleries made by larvae, and at knot holes, yet 

 from examinations of the nests mentioned in this article, it appears 

 that the carpenter ant truly deserves its name, and is a great 

 worker in wood. 



