448 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
about more indirectly by the Leptothorax, vzz., by their continu- 
ally pestering the Myrmicas for food and thus diverting to 
their own use much of the sustenance that would, under other 
conditions, benefit the Myrmicas themselves and their progeny. 
If I have correctly estimated the influences which may tend 
to diminish the fecundity and prosperity of the Myrmicas we 
have in this double nest another striking demonstration of the 
complete absence in ants of any faculty of reason. For, if the 
Myrmicas possessed a glimmer of this faculty, they could easily 
annihilate the gluttonous little nest mates that are forever roam- 
ing about their galleries like so many animated stomach pumps. 
As I was obliged to leave Colebrook I took advantage of the 
cold morning of September 5, when the ants were inactive, to 
transfer them all to a Cohansy jar containing some earth. From 
this date till October 1 I was traveling about and was there- 
fore compelled to suspend observations on the compound nest. 
On returning to Austin, Texas, October 1, the ants were again 
transferred to a Lubbock nest, but to my dismay I found only 
the queen and a single worker of the Leptothorax remaining. 
The eggs, the two male pupze, and the other workers of this ant, 
together with nearly all the larvae and pupz of the Myrmica, 
had disappeared. The Leptothorax queen was very uneasy and 
wandered about outside the Myrmica nest. On the following 
day she disappeared. She had probably contrived to cross the 
moat on the bodies of some drowned Myrmicas. 
The single worker remained in the nest and for several days 
ran about shampooing the Myrmicas and soliciting food. On 
October 7 she, too, escaped from the nest and was found strug- 
gling in the moat. She was rescued from drowning and soon 
recovered sufficiently to crawl into the nest, though she showed 
no desire to mingle with the Myrmicas. Finally she lay motion: 
less in a deserted gallery, where she was found dead the next 
morning. Thus ended the last of these fascinating little ants: 
(To be continued.) 
