Pasi ahaa tlie TES Mp elon Ratan Bar A 
iy tebe GSS y bai ADe 
3 fe ete an ganas 
€ S ae T eee 7 
: 1886] Geographical and Geological Exploration in Brazil, 687 
_ The beating net seemed to contain nothing but ants. It occurred ~~ 
to him to examine the ants a little more closely, and then some 
of them turned out to be beetles so closely resembling the ants 
that they had heretofore entirely escaped the notice of collectors. 
It is an Anthicid, and is still undescribed. Two species of Tem- 
nopsophus were also found which resemble the same ant in a 
remarkable manner, and a species of Hemiptera mimics it in a 
curious way. 
Ants’ nests are therefore something more than the dwelling 
places of the ants themselves. They are veritable cities, of which 
the ants are masters and builders, working not eight but twenty- 
four hours per day, and with inhabitants of many different kinds 
with very different modes of life, of feeding and of propagating, 
and all live apparently in the greatest harmony. 
It remains only for me to acknowledge the source of much of 
my information concerning ants and their guests. Mr. E. A. 
Schwarz, of the Department of Agriculture, has probably the 
largest experience of any American collector in searching ant- 
hills, and his collection of Myrmecophili is probably the finest. 
He is as liberal with information as he is with specimens, and I 
take pleasure in admitting that his information and his collection 
_ have been freely drawn upon by me. 
:0: 
GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION 
IN BRAZIL. 
ne BY JOHN C. BRANNER, PH.D. 
WHEN the Imperial Geological Survey of Brazil, under the 
late Professor C. Fred. Hartt, was suspended, geological 
Work in that empire came to a standstill. After the death of Pro- 
. fessor Hartt, Professor Derby, the senior assistant on the survey, 
Was, after a good deal of delay, appointed director of the geolog- 
ical section in the National Museum, in charge of which the ex- 
tensive collections of the survey had already been placed. ere 
Professor Derby has remained in Brazil ever since, and has — 
_ Succeeded in turning to good account much of the material and 
_ Work of the old survey. The general government, however, has — 
_ Gone but litle to encourage geological work—nothing, in fact, _ 
-€Xcept to retain Mr, Derby in his place in the museum, and thus = 
to enable him to accomplish something. 
