No. 422.] NEW AGRICULTURAL ANT FROM TEXAS. 95 
on the “occident ant" (P. occidentalis Cresson), no observa- 
tions seem to have been published on the two distinctively 
Californian species (P. californicus Buckley and P. subdentatus 
Mayr) My friend Dr. Harold Heath, who has made strenuous 
effort to fill this gap in our knowledge, kindly supplies me with 
the following notes on the latter species : 
The red agricultural ant (P. suédentatus) is one of the most abundant 
ants in the neighborhood of Pacific Grove, Cal. Here one is constantly 
coming upon them and their nests along the roadsides and in the sandy 
soil of the woods and fields. The nests, so far as I have been able to 
observe, are never placed under stones or logs, but in exposed regions, — 
that is, away from the shadow of vegetation. Little attempt is made to 
clear away the short grass in their vicinity. The earth carried out from 
their burrows is usually deposited several inches from the opening, espe- 
cially along their runways, which extend out in various directions into the 
surrounding region. Large quantities of chaff and the hulls of seeds are 
also scattered about, usually in fairly definite dumping grounds, but neither 
these materials nor the earth are ever fashioned into a mound. Some of 
the ants entering the nest carry pods, others bits of leaves and grass, all 
well dried, while an equal number of the insects leaving the nest carry away 
similar materials, but the pods are emptied of their seeds and the leaves are 
evidently thrown away as non-nutritious and useless. Within the nest there 
are several little granaries, or accumulations of seeds, each sometimes 
amounting to as much as a teaspoonful, though usually considerably less. 
The foodstuffs seem to be carried to one spot within the nest and there 
hulled and assorted. The seeds are then carried to the storehouses, while 
the chaff is at once carried out, although it may accumulate and almost 
completely fill a burrow for a distance of several inches. On comparing 
the seeds taken from the nest with those of the surrounding plants, I find 
them to be chiefly those of a species of grass and of two species of Com- 
posite. At the present writing these seeds are fully ripe, but as soon as 
those of other plants mature they appear to be equally acceptable. : I may 
add that these ants defend their homes with extraordinary pugnacity and 
inflict stings more painful than those of the honey-bee. As I write I feel 
the dull ache of several stings inflicted more than a day ago. 
These observations, by a thoroughly competent zoólogist, 
show that at least one of the Californian species of Pogono- 
myrmex conforms rather closely to what is known of the other 
species of the genus. 
Some interesting 
problems center about the geographical 
distribution of the species of Pogonomyrmex. 
These ants 
