No. 414.] NESTS OF AMERICAN ANTS. 439 
as above described, I have noticed that the Leptothorax after 
mounting a Myrmica sometimes turns about and licks the 
metathorax or even the abdomen of its host, as if, like Myrme- 
cophila (see Wheeler, '00), it found the surface covered with 
some agreeable secretion. It seems, therefore, not improbable 
that the Myrmicas may derive some slight benefit from guests 
which, like many tonsors, combine the occupation of the bar- 
ber and bather. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that the 
Myrmica does not always pay for the shampooing it receives. 
But the Leptothorax is not discouraged ; it merely dismounts 
and runs about in the galleries till it falls in with another 
Myrmica. 
The Leptothorax workers "were never seen to approach the 
male Myrmicas, and only once did I see one shampooing one of 
the queens. So conspicuous was this neglect of the two fertile 
sexes of their hosts and their predilection for the workers, that 
I was convinced that they habitually ignore the queens and 
males, because these insects, like themselves, depend on the 
Myrmica workers for their sustenance and are probably on 
that account not in the habit of regurgitating. 
On the evening of the day on which the ants moved into 
the Lubbock nest and during a portion of the following day, 
August 26, the queen Leptothorax wandered about outside the 
nest as if seeking a more favorable retreat. By 4 p.m., how- 
ever, she had entered the nest and, with eight of her workers 
gathered about her and her two mature larve, was found 
occupying a small earthen chamber under the very middle of 
the roof-pane. This chamber, which had evidently been dug 
by the Leptothorax, was surrounded on all sides by the large 
galleries of the Myrmicas. Seen from above, the Leptothorax 
nest had the appearance of Fig.4 a. The queen, workers, and 
larvee, nearly filled the small cavity, a, which communicated 
with a wide Myrmica gallery, c, by means of a passage, o, too 
small to admit a Myrmica. Through this narrow passage a 
few Leptothorax workers entered or passed out from time to 
time, but several always remained in the nest with their queen. 
Usually from one to six workers were to be seen soliciting 
food among the Myrmicas. 
