Show HABITS OF BROWN ANT injurious little insect pound found in all cultivated lands I 1 formic forma rather Ext enelva settlements attle ments in corn fields mainly in hills cultivator la Is not likely to tear up nests my s A donnna Fon nna tho the little brown ant notorious for its injuries to corn and called consequently quent ly the corn fjeld ant la is not by any means limited to corn fields noels but to Is abundant lu in nil all cultivated lands in pastures nud and meadows in ili dense forests along harti hard pathways and in the sandy soil of dry sunny roads ono one finds it nesting in rotten wood or under bark logs loga or stones aud and even opening up its underground burrows to the surface between the bricks and sidewalks and pavements jt it Is distributed over the whole of north america except tile extreme southern and southwestern portions por tlona from the tree line of the highest moun tallis to tho the sands of the shore its ita home hoine and habits havo have been chiefly studied in corn holds fields and thero there it forms forma rather extensive alvo settlements various stages of cornfield corn field ant mainly centering in tho the hills of corn several adjacent bills so BO occupied by it being connected by underground channels by way of which members of the tha same family may pass from hill bill to hill this Is partly no doubt bo bause in corn fields it la is usually in pos possession of plant lice which live on an the tha roots of corn and which contribute to the support of the ants the fluid surplus of their own food but partly also because in the corn hills it la Is undisturbed by the cultivator which Is likely to tear up its ita nests it if they are established between tho the rows in the burrows of this ant ono one may find a rather mixed and varied population consisting of at the eggs larvae pupae males females and workers of the ants themselves together with the various species of at root lice harbored by baem and certain kinds of mites which share its underground habitations on terms of mutual toleration it if not active friendship in clover fields it la Is very likely to havo have in its nests ninny many mealy bugs buga of a species which infest the roots of the clover plant and these it treats as it does the root lice of the corn plant seizing them and carrying them away when its nest Is ia disturbed just as it hurries out of right eight with its own maggot like larvae its egg like liko pupae and its ita minute opher spherical ical white eggs the contents of tho the nest are not pro pre canely the same at all times of the year in the winter one finds in it no males or pupae of the ants as a rule but only workers and larvae companion mites and eggs of tho the root lice in some of the larger mites nests ono one or more wingless queens or mother ants anti may be found although we ha have ve not been able t tc satisfy ourselves t that hat this is true of all ur even most of tho the winter communities of this ape species cies A careful search a and nd exploration of all the ha tunnels and chambers of large geots neots have often failed to bring to light a single queen sometimes how evor ever two or more queens may be seen living contentedly in the same worker family performing their proper function of laying eggs for the increase of the colony besides these largo large colpo composite site and evide evidently well established communities one may often clr single females in the ground sometimes wholly alone and sometimes with a few of their own eggs a few larvae and a small email number of work ors |