100 A New Leaf Cutting Ant. [February, 
A NEW LEAF CUTTING ANT. 
BY G. K. MORRIS. 
SLAND Heights is the name given to a camp meeting ground 
and summer resort on the New Jersey coast, near the ancient 
village of Toms river, and situated on Barnegat bay. For many 
years the greater portion of the island was neglected by man. 
It is but two years since the woodman’s axe sounded the signal 
of approaching change. It is now a pleasant summer town. 
This summer, early in July, I took up my abode there for the 
term of my vacation. My first observation was, that the place 
was an Eden for ants. In an unimproved block two hundred feet 
square, there are nearly forty species, representing several genera. 
Of course most of them are well known; but nineteen of them 
were strangers to me and such authorities as I was able to con- 
sult. These have been sent to Dr. Forel for determination. 
One of the number, the most curious and interesting of all, is 
a leaf cutter, said to be new to science both by Dr. McCook and 
Mrs. Treat. The worker is a fraction over an eighth of an inch in 
length. “The male and female are nearly of a size, and but little 
larger than the workers. In color, as seen in mass in alcohol, 
they are light brown. The head is dark, and a dark band runs 
down to the point of the abdomen, which on the under side is 
lighter. The head is rugose, and the entire surface of the body 
is rough and hard. On the thorax and the metathorax there are 
short spines. The node is like a rough irregular bead with the 
thick end next to the abdomen. The mandibles are toothed and 
seem striated on the outer surface. 
When first observed these ants were marching in line, each one 
laden with a piece of the fine needle-like leaf of pine seedlings. 
They did not carry their loads as other ants do, but on their 
heads, resting between two ridges that extend from the base of 
the antenne to the top of the head: Some of them carried 
pieces longer than themselves, in which cases the needle lay along 
the back, one end being held in the mandibles. Tracing them to 
the seedling, which was nearly a rod from their formicary, meas- 
ured by their path, I found them engaged in cutting. It took 
but a moment for one of them to sever a leaf. Some pieces lay 
on the ground as if the cutter had been delegated to that work, 
but as I watched, each cutter carried down the piece he had cut 
and bore it to the nest. | 
