HONEY ANTS. 
By WALTER IK FROGGATT. 
(Plate 27). 
Among the many interesting hahits of the Formicidse there is perliaps none 
so peculiar as tliat which certain species liave adopted of turning some of their 
fellows into animated honey-pots. At certain seasons of the year many honeydew- 
producing insects infest the Eucalyptus, such as the larva? of the lei’p insects, 
Psyllidce, and several kinds of Coccidte {^Eriococcus corinceus), the latter often 
covering the foliage with a thin coating of sticky matter, so plentifully does the 
honeydew drop from the female Coccus. INIany ditferent species of ants frequent 
the bushes for this sweet food, and some of the.se species have the forethought to 
store up the surplus supplies; but instead of forming a comb, as the instinct of the 
honey-hees teaches them, the ants select a certain number of their workers, and 
after their return to the nest from foraging, di.sgoi-ge the honey they have obtained 
down the throats of these chosen individuals, which soon causes the stomach to 
inci'ease to such an extent that the intersegmental membrane becomes .so distended 
that the chitinous plates of the segments simply become dark bands across the 
semi-transparent globular abdomen. 
These ants are in all respects similar to their fellow workers, except in this 
enormously swollen body, and in this state are compelled to remain in the nest 
with only a limited power of progression, and constitute a reserve stock of honey 
in times of scarcity. 
Three different species have up to the present been recorded which possess 
this remarkable habit. The first that were known were collected by INIr. W. 
Wesmael in Mexico, and described by him* under the name Afymiecocys/us mexi- 
canns. They were called by the natives “ honniger ?}!ieleras,'” or “ viochi/eFas,''’ honey 
or pouched ants. They have since then been found by Mr. IT. C. M‘Cook in 
Colorado, and he has ))ublished a very interesting account of themf in his book on 
honey ants, and a short summary of this work upon their habits is given in the 
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science. J 
* Bulletin de 1’ Acad, des Science de Bruxelles, 1838, p. 770. 
t The Honey Ants of the Garden of the Gods, Phil., 1881. 
X P.A.N.S. Phil., 1882, p. 303. 
