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No 145.] 
tance of an inch or more. This discoloration will be observed in 
every part of the trunk and limbs of the walnut tree, wherever 
the burrows of these ants occur. And it seems quite probable 
that the ant by thus saturating the wood with acid, hastens its 
decay, in order to adapt it for being more easily mined. If we 
are correct in this supposition, this curious faculty which our 
walnut ant possesses of softening the wood in order that it may 
be able to gnaw and excavate it more readily, renders this species 
much more injurious than it otherwise would be. 
It is commonly stated of the insects of this family that males 
and females are developed only in the summer, and that it is the 
neuters alone that are to be found at other seasons of the year; 
but of this species I meet with all three of the sexes, in a torpid 
state in their burrows, in the winter season. Those parts of the 
burrows where the ants were present had their walls quite wet, 
probably from the perspiration given oif from their bodies. 
And nestling in this wet surface a few larvse of the ants were 
also met with. 
I 
Those larva: were very small footless grubs’, measuring from 0.03 to 0.08 in length, 
the largest individuals being about 0.03 iu diameter. They are of a cylindrical form, 
but always lie with the body doubled together in the form of the letter U, or in the 
larger individuals with the head bent downwards against the breast. They are of a 
white color, shining and semipcllucid, with a blackish cloud in the center of the body 
from alimentary matter in the viscera. The surface is covered with numerous short- 
ish white hairs, and the segments are marked by transverse impressed lines, which 
are much more obvious in the large than in the small individuals. No projecting 
jaws can be discerned at the mouth. 
Upon the wet surface of the walls of the cavities occupied by 
these ants, extremely minute ticks may also be met with, numer¬ 
ous in particular placed, and of a pale red color, bearing some re¬ 
semblance to a minute Coccinella or Lady-bird. These, it is 
probable, are parasites living upon the ants. They are similar in 
their form, texture, &c., to the common Beetle- tick ( Gamasus 
coleoptralorum, Lin.), but the hard shining plate covering their 
backs consists of one piece only. They consequently pertain to 
die genus Uropoda of Latrielle, and the species may appropriately 
be named Formica, or the Ant-tick. Of the species figured in 
Baron Walckenaer’s Atlas of Apterous Insects, it bears the closest 
i 
