1878. ] Mound-Making Ants of the Alleghenies. 441 
dently grow at the ants’ consent, might be preserved, not only to 
_ strengthen the architecture, but to furnish at their roots sustenance 
for aphides. Accordingly, at a visit made October 26, 1876, a 
cold, snowy day, I carefully searched for aphides upon the roots of 
the grass, but found none. Mr. Kay’s search was equally fruitless. 
The roaches found in such numbers by Mr. Kay, and also by 
myself, are doubtless simply squatters upon the emmet territory. 
However, it. must be considered as still unsettled whether our 
mountain mound-builders feed during winter, and if so, what are 
the sources of their food supply. 
Beetles—The possibility that the beetles, certain species of 
which are well known to frequent the nests of ants, might be in 
some way concerned in this interesting query, did not escape my 
attention. But I was never so fortunate as to take any beetles 
in the hills either during the summer or fall visit. This was 
doubtless chiefly owing to my ignorance at that time of the size 
and appearance of the insects, and the best mode of capturing 
them. I hope at another visit to remedy this deficiency. Dr. 
_ Horn informs me that the spring is the best season to search for 
these domesticated beetles. Among the ants collected in mid- 
winter by Mr. Kay, and sent to me as specimens, I found one 
beetle, It is a small insect, about one-tenth of an inch in length, 
of a dark claret-brown color, quite closely resembling in this re- 
spect the ants among whom it dwells. It is determined by Dr. 
Horn as Zimesiphoris costalis LeConte, and belongs to the, Clavi- 
geridæ. The discovery of this beetle in midwinter, together with 
the fact that the beetles are found in abundance with the ants in 
early spring, show these insects to be closely connected with the 
winter life of the ants, if not with their winter food supply. 
Dr. John L. LeConte, so widely distinguished for his thorough 
knowledge of the Coleoptera, has shown me the following species 
collected by himself from ants’ nests. Two of these, taken from 
formicaries of our Allegheny Mountain mound-builders, I have. 
been permitted to figure. They are drawn in order simply to 
give a general idea of their appearance, and not for systematic 
description. The most interesting of these is perhaps Fig. 7, 
1, Atemeles cava LeConte, which, like the Clavigerida, is fur- 
nished with tufts of hollow, hair-like tubes, on the sides of the 
abdomen. From these tufts a sweet secretion exudes, upon - : 
which the ants feed, as upon the honey-dew of the aphides. 
. 
