I ^ WHEELER. [VOL. II. 



extirpation of its antennae. Two other experiments termi- 

 nated in the same way. 



Two inferences may, I believe, be drawn from these obser- 

 vations on the snapping and jumping habits of Odontomachus : 

 First, it seems evident that these are reflex actions ; second, 

 that they can be inhibited by the will of the insect. This 

 latter conclusion is supported by the experiment with the sugar 

 and the yolk. It also shows that these ants learn by experience, 

 and that they possess some form of memory. 



The peculiar snapping and leaping habits of O. Jiaematodes 

 have been remarked by a few other observers. Emery has 

 published a brief note on this subject, 1 and Forel 2 says of this 

 insect that " en Colombie on 1'appelle ' Fourmi tac ', a cause du 

 bruit qu'il fait en refermant brusquement ses mandibules. Par 

 le meme mouvement il ressaute en arriere lorsqu'il les referme 

 contre un objet, ce qui lui a fait attribuer a tort la propriete de 

 sauter." I cannot accept this last statement, which seems to 

 be a contradiction in terms. The ant makes use of its saltatory 

 powers for purposes of escape, as any one who tries to capture 

 a colony of these ants may readily observe. That it leaps 

 backward instead of forward, like other insects, is due to its 

 using a most unusual organ for leaping, for the mandibles, 

 which, as in other ants, are used for digging and transporting 

 the soil, carrying eggs and larvae, and for killing and cutting up 

 prey, have acquired an additional function as saltatory organs 

 in O. Jiaematodes. 



The breeding habits and the characteristics of the eggs and 

 larvae of the Ponerinae exhibit striking deviations from those of 

 other ants. I have not seen the eggs of Odontomachus, but 

 throughout the month of May I have often happened on the 

 eggs of Pachycondyla and Leptogenys. These are white and 

 of a slender, oblong shape (Fig. 8, a], somewhat smaller in the 

 latter than in the former genus. They differ in shape from the 

 eggs of species of Eciton, Camponotus, Formica, Pogonomyr- 

 mex, Solenopsis, and Tapinoma ; for the ants of these genera, 

 representing several subfamilies, agree in having elliptical and 



1 Biol. Centralbl. Bd. xiii, pp. 189-190. 1893. 



2 Loc. cit., p. 20. 



