. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. is habit in the MississippiValley and Rocky Mountains, where the annual extremes of tempera-ture are even greater. Formica subsericea and many species of Lasiusand Acanthomyops become dome builders in Illinois and Wisconsin,although it must be admitted that the term masonry domes is notalways strictly applicable to their nests, since the earth of which theyconsist is not firmly compacted but carried up rather loosely aroundgrass and plant stems. I have frequently seen such mounds of Lasiusaphidicola, Acanthomyops intcrjectiis and clariacr and
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. is habit in the MississippiValley and Rocky Mountains, where the annual extremes of tempera-ture are even greater. Formica subsericea and many species of Lasiusand Acanthomyops become dome builders in Illinois and Wisconsin,although it must be admitted that the term masonry domes is notalways strictly applicable to their nests, since the earth of which theyconsist is not firmly compacted but carried up rather loosely aroundgrass and plant stems. I have frequently seen such mounds of Lasiusaphidicola, Acanthomyops intcrjectiis and clariacr and F. subsericea 204 ANTS. fully 30 cm. in height and do cm. to i m. in diameter. In the RockyMountain region large mound nests of Pogonomyrmex occiiientulis,l-onnica obscnrif>cs. opaciventris and uryciitata abound, and in theseregions they are much needed for maturing the brood, as the nights arecold in the summer and the heat of the daylight hours must be :<iriiiicii (jlticiiiiis, one of the varieties of I, fiisca, in .Maine, makes. FIG. 112. Nest of Formica Integra in a huge pine stump, showing vegetable de-tritus accumulated by the workers in the crevices of the bark and about the roots.(Original.) true masonry domes like the European ants, and in this region suchnests must be very useful as incubators since the summers are short andcomparatively cool. I am able to confirm Fords statement that in hilly or mountainousregions ant-nests are most abundant on the eastern and southernslopes. He says: I have observed this repeatedly and also more re-cently here in America. Here, too, the same explanation applies: Themorning sun awakens and urges the ants to work. During the after-noon it is sufficiently warm so that this stimulus is unnecessary. Hence .IXT-XESTS. 205 the advantage of an eastern exposure which lengthens their dailyactivity. On a western slope, on the contrary, they lose the earlymorning hours, are too warm in the afternoon and are unable to domuch afte
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
