Studies on Arizona Ants (3) the Habits of Pogonomyrmex Huachucanus Wheeler and a Description of the Sexual Castes

Abstract

this ant. During the summers of 1950 and 1951 the writer ound numerous colonies of huachuca.nus and was able to study some of them in considerable detail. This paper presents the results o.f these studies, a review of previously published observations on huachucanus and a description of each of the three castes. The nests of huachucanus examined by the writer were very uniform in one respect. In every case they were built in extremely harsh, stony soil. The most striking example of this was a nest taken at the summit of Montezuma Pass in the Huachuca Mountains. This nest was constructed in the hard-packed gravel o.f the highway. Road work had compressed the gravel to such an extent that soil around the est was almost as hard as concrete. Most oi the nests were situated on rather steep slooes and they were generally ully exposed to the sun. The direction of the slope seemed to be of little importance. Three of the nests were constructed beneath stones, the others had no covering object present. In the latter case the nest was provided 71