THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST 
Vor. XXXV. June, 1901. NO. 414. 
THE COMPOUND AND MIXED NESTS OF 
AMERICAN ANTS:. 
WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER. 
Part I. OBSERVATIONS ON A NEW GUEST ANT. 
Or the many symbiotic relations known to exist between 
ants and other living organisms, whether animals or plants, 
few are more interesting than the relations between ants of 
different species or even genera that live together in the same 
nests on terms of mutual toleration or intimacy. In this 
country, nevertheless, studies like those of Forel (74), Adlerz 
(84, '86,'96), and Wasmann (91) on the compound and mixed 
nests of European ants have scarcely been undertaken, notwith- 
standing the fact that our own ant fauna is known to present 
numerous cases no less remarkable than those which have been 
so carefully studied abroad. Sufficient evidence of the truth 
of this remark will be found in the description of a hitherto 
unknown form of compound nest which is made the basis of the 
Present paper. This is in many respects so unlike any of 
the recorded compound nests that it seems worth while, if only 
! Contributions from the Zoölogical Laboratory of the University of Texas, No. 14. 
431 
