. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. region of the Eolian desert where the drin isalmost the only plant that can subsist. On the other hand there is nodrin in the region of Hamada where I first found H. lamccrci, whichhas the under side of the head but little excavated. Still another interesting ant of the North African desert has beenrecently discovered in Tunis by Santschi. This is a small black species,Oxyopomyrmex santschn. Its habits are described as follows by itsdiscoverer in a letter published by Forel (19040) : The nests are socharacteristic that when one has once seen o
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. region of the Eolian desert where the drin isalmost the only plant that can subsist. On the other hand there is nodrin in the region of Hamada where I first found H. lamccrci, whichhas the under side of the head but little excavated. Still another interesting ant of the North African desert has beenrecently discovered in Tunis by Santschi. This is a small black species,Oxyopomyrmex santschn. Its habits are described as follows by itsdiscoverer in a letter published by Forel (19040) : The nests are socharacteristic that when one has once seen one of them, nothing is 19 274 ANTS. easier than to find others I am surprisc-d learn that they have notattracted the attention of other observers. Kspecially remarkable isthe tiny crater, which has the form of a cone | Kig. 151 | hardly morethan 4-s cm. in diameter and cm. high. The circumference ofits funnel-shaped top is 3-4 cm. across and its margin is always per-fectly circular and entire, except in nests in process of construction,. FIG. 156. Crater n\ cockcrclli in Ari/ona desert. slio\vinj,r tin- lan:e (Original.) when it is at first scmilunar like the very small nests ol M cssor tiiC-imiins. At the hottom of the funnel the small entrance is found at adepth of j-^ cm. It is horizontal, attaining a length of 5 cm., a breadthof i cm. and a height of 5 cm. In this first chamber the pupa,1 are keptfor the- purpose of enjoying the warmth, and here I have found anumber of workers and winged females. Thence the gallery continuesto descend to a depth of 15-20 cm. and finally opens into two or threechambers of the same dimensions as the first. These contain pupa?and an ample provision of very small seeds. This ant is thereforegranivorous. I surprised a few of the workers entering the nest withseeds in their mandibles, but they go out foraging singly and not infiles like M cssor and other genera. They are very slow in their move- ////: HARVESTIN
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
