No. 2.] HABITS OF PONERA AND STIGMA TOMMA. 53 



overlooked. The third type of projection is found only on the 

 dorsal surface of the third to sixth abdominal segment as four 

 pairs of club-shaped structures which are glutinous to the 

 touch. That these are peculiar modifications of the tapering 

 tubercles seems to be indicated by the fact that they replace 

 on either side in each of the four above-mentioned segments 

 the more posterior of the two pointed projections seen in the 

 thoracic, first and second, and seventh and eighth abdominal 

 segments. The larva is usually kept on its back, so that the 

 four pairs of glutinous tubercles act as suckers and fix it to 

 the sides of the earthen chamber or to the glass of the artificial 

 nest. The ants have to exert a slight effort in pulling the 

 larva away from its attachment. The head of the larva in 

 dorsal view is shown in Fig. 4, c. It is broad, evenly rounded 

 behind, and beset with short stiff bristles. The labrum is 

 bilobed and does not extend beyond the tips of the powerful 

 tridentate mandibles. The fleshy maxillae and labrum pro- 

 ject somewhat beyond the mandibles, the former being pro- 

 vided with robust tactile cones, the latter with a prominent 

 median tubercle on which opens the duct of the spinning gland. 

 Comparison of the figures in this and my previous paper shows 

 that the larva of P. coarctata is peculiar in lacking the circlets 

 of bristles on the pointed projections and in possessing clavate 

 adhesive tubercles on the dorsal surface of the abdomen. 



The larvae are fed in the very same manner as the larvae of 

 the large Texan Ponerinae, i.e., with pieces of food and not 

 with liquid regurgitated by the ants. In confinement I did 

 not succeed in inducing the ants to feed their larvae with 

 fragments of insects, but they carried crumbs of moistened 

 corn bread to them, and the larvae could be seen lying on their 

 backs, attached by their glutinous dorsal tubercles, slowly con- 

 suming the morsels which had been placed on their flattened 

 ventral surfaces. The fixation of the larva to the walls of the 

 nest seems to be an adaptation for giving freer play to the 

 head and slender neck during feeding. 



The oblong elliptical cocoons of coarctata are of a light buff 

 or cream color, and vary from 2 to 3.5 mm. in length. They 

 closely resemble the worker cocoons of Lasius umbmttis mixtus 



