No. 403. ] ECITON SUMICHRASTI NORTON. 565 
on the agricultural ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus Smith). I 
had found several nests of Eciton ommivorum and E. sumi- 
chrasti under stones along the sloping banks of Shoal Creek, 
but in no case did these colonies comprise anything but ` 
workers, till quite unexpectedly, on the 3oth of March, in a 
large nest of the latter species, I detected what may be de- 
scribed in words borrowed from Forel's description of the 
female of Æ. carolinense: 
*une longue et large béte 
aveugle et aptére, se mou- 
vant lourdement avec son im- 
mense abdomen distendu au 
milieu des 9." There could 
be no doubt that I had found 
the queen of the colony. 
A few days later (April 
1I) one of my students suc- 
ceeded in finding another 
large nest of E. sumichrasti 
containing an even larger 
female. In this nest some 
of the workers were carrying 
larva and 'pupe, and the 
queen was stil producing 
eggs. As this female dif- 
fers in several particulars Fic. 2. mies fertile female, or queen, of 
from the first one captured, Vio ph d 
I insert brief descriptions of both, designating the former 
specimen as 94, the latter as 9 2. Both of these insects had 
the head and thorax more or less concealed by shining yellow 
mites, shaped like minute chelomorph beetles, with long yellow 
hairs projecting from their dorsal surfaces. These mites, 
represented zz situ in the sketch of 9 (Fig. 3), were some- 
times either rapidly removed by the workers enveloping the 
queen or migrated of their own accord to the workers. I infer 
this from the fact that the queen would sometimes emerge from 
the swarm of workers glistening with these parasites, while at 
other times she would be found entirely free from them. 
