172 THE AMERICAN NATURALLIST. [VoL. XXXV. 
capture on their marauding expeditions. When they migrate 
toa new nest they carry this booty with them, as shown by 
the following observation made in the city of Galveston during 
the past June. A large colony of Æ. schmitti, which had 
been living under the front doorstep of the house in which the 
senior author was stopping, decided to change their quarters. 
In the early twilight the entire colony moved out in regular 
file through the garden and entered a new nest which was 
being dug only a few yards from the old one about the roots of 
some violets. While carefully scrutinizing the file of ants for 
the purpose of detecting any ecitophiles which might be march- 
ing with them, the ecitons were seen to carry considerable 
numbers of dead carabid beetles (small species of Harpalus and 
Pterostichus). These evidently represented their store of food 
for the time being. Since this observation was made, the 
senior author has had frequent opportunity to feed the ecitons 
in artificial nests with termites and the larve of ants (Campo- 
notus and Pachycondyla!). In all cases many of these larva 
and termites were carried about or stored in one corner of the 
nest for several days before they were eaten. 
Postscript. 
The first female Eciton known to have been taken in the 
United States was discovered by Rev. P. Jerome Schmitt in 
April, 1894, on the grounds of St. Mary’s College, Belmont, 
Gaston County, N.C. The insect was found under the bark of 
a tree and concealed under a large mass of workers half rigid 
with the cold. Eighty to one hundred specimens of an ecito- 
philous beetle (Ecitonusa schmitti Wasm.) were found scattered 
through the cluster of workers. The latter were identified by 
Wasmann and Emery as belonging to Æ. opacithorax Emery. 
The description of the female has been delayed till the present 
time, as Rev. Mr. Schmitt happened to be more interested in 
other fields of entomology. At our request he has most gener- 
ously sent us the insect for examination and description, and has 
also permitted us to use the accompanying cut, prepared for him 
some years ago under the direction of Messrs. Schwarz and 
