No. i.] A STUDY OF SOME TEXAX POXERINAE. 23 



are not nearly so prolific as the species of Camponotus, 

 Formica, Pogonomyrmex, Pheidole, Tapinoma, Eciton, etc. 

 Indeed, the small number of ants in the nests of the Ponerinae 

 is probably the direct result of this limited productivity. If 

 this is the case, it does not seem probable that these ants 

 would be more careless of their progeny than the very prolific 

 specialized ants. On the contrary, we should expect them to 

 extend even greater protection to their offspring. This my 

 observations show to be the case ; at any rate, P. harpax, 

 L. clongata, and O. Jiaematodes are in nowise inferior to the 

 Myrmicinae and Formicinae in this respect. The slightest 

 disturbance of the natural or artificial nests of these ants 

 causes them at once to seize their eggs, larvae, and cocoons, 

 and to make for their galleries. Occasionally some of the ants 

 escape without anything, but if they are watched for a few 

 moments, they will be seen returning, often in the very face 

 of danger, to carry off more of their young. They are, it is 

 true, most careful of their eggs, somewhat less careful of the 

 larvae, and least careful of their cocoons ; but these distinctions 

 are not always apparent and can only be affirmed as the result 

 of many observations. When the colony is agitated, it is 

 probably most easy for the ants to seize and remove the small 

 packets of eggs and the younger larvae, and least easy to carry 

 off the larger larvae and the awkward cocoons. Dead pupae 

 are often collected in one part of the nest and are there 

 allowed to lie unheeded. I am inclined to think that Professor 

 Forel may have seen such abandoned pupae in the nests of 

 P. c caret at a. 



The strong development of the mandibles of the Ponerine 

 larva as compared with those of other ants led Emery remotely 

 to surmise the method which the Ponerinae employ in feeding 

 their young. 1 But no myrmecologist could have predicted the 



1 Loc, cit., pp. 8, 9. " Sembrami pertanto che lo sviluppo notevole della bocca 

 e particolarmente delle mandibole, nelle larve delle Ponerinae e dell' Acantho- 

 stichus inducano a qualche supposizione relativamente alia biologia di queste 

 formiche. Le larve delle specie europee che finora furono osservate vengono 

 alimentate col contenuto dell' ingluvie delle operaie che queste regurgitano sulla 

 bocca delle loro larve, e forse anche col secreto di ghiandole salivari. In queste 

 specie, 1 'airmen to delle larve consiste dunque esclusivamente di sostanze liquide o 



