6 



earth nests built at the bottom of glass jars, with the lower half pro- 

 tected from the light by closely wrapped thick paper, and closed above 

 by a piece of cloth, leave little to be desired. Many of the colonies 

 adopted the artificial nests without change, or have even carried out 

 the few particles of earth which accidentally fell in while the chambers 

 were being constructed for them. Others have brought in earth and 

 remodeled their apartments and are now living in chambers of practi- 

 cally the same size and shape as in their own nests. They have ceased 

 to be disturbed by the occasional removal of the paper cup from the 

 bottom of their cage, and all the operations of the colonies can be 

 observed under conditions altogether favorable. 



It is not intended, however, to enter at this time upon detailed 

 accounts of the interesting domestic behavior of the ants, but rather 

 to give what might be called a biological outline of their activities, 

 from which it ma3 T be possible to understand something of their place- 

 in nature and of their probable utility in agriculture. 



One of several minor agricultural virtues of these ants lies in the 

 fact that they dig no large chambers or passages which can serve as 

 pitfalls for men or farm animals, as do many other kinds, including 

 the leaf -cutting ant of southern Texas, which the cotton planters are 

 attempting to exterminate at much expense. The nest of the kelep is 

 a simple burrow, extending from 1 to 3 feet into the ground, and con- 

 sists of from three to six small chambers, with connecting galleries. 

 The passagewa} r s are about a quarter of an inch in diameter and the 

 chambers from 1 to 3 inches broad and half or three-fourths of an inch 

 high, with level or slightly sloping floors and broadly arched roofs. 

 The queen, with some of the eggs and younger larvae, is generally to 

 be found in the lowest chamber, but the pupa? in their cocoons are 

 usually near the top and the remainder of the smaller larvae and eggs 

 lower down. In addition to the chambers inhabited by the ants there 

 are in each nest one or more cavities for the storage of the hard parts — 

 the bones, as it were — of the insects which the colon} T has captured 

 and eaten. Heads, legs, wings, and other fragments of insects of 

 many kinds, including the boll weevil, are here packed indiscrimi- 

 nately together. The mass is often penetrated by a network of deli- 

 cate roots, and is the home of several small animals which commonly 

 find shelter in the nests of the keleps: a snail, a worm, a mite, a Pod- 

 urid, and a thysanuran. A hymenopterous insect was also obtained, 

 which is probably a parasite of the ants. 



The habit of preserving this useless debris is rendered the more 

 curious bj- the fact that dead ants seem not to be included in the col- 

 lection, but are carried out of the nest, as is the general custom 

 among bees and other related insects. It was thought at one time 

 that some of the captive colonies were resorting to cannibalism, since 

 some dead ants were found pulled in pieces like the insects which had 



