62 ll'HEELER. [VOL. II. 



seen to taper into very slender flexuous points. The head is 

 somewhat longer than broad and without hairs on its dorsal 

 surface, the labrum is bilobed, the maxillae provided with the 

 usual tactile cones. The outer one of these on either side 

 appears to be bifurcate. The young differs from the mature 

 larva only in having a relatively larger head and a sparser 

 covering of bristles. Comparison of the larva of Stigmatomma 

 with that of Poncra, Pachycondyla, Lcptogenys, and Odonto- 

 macJnts shows that it does not conform to the Ponerine type 

 but closely resembles, instead, the larvae of certain Myrmi- 

 cinae, which are also covered with hairs instead of bristly 

 tubercles. 1 



The cocoons of Stigmatomma are of a slightly darker, more 

 brownish color, and somewhat more oval than the cocoons of 

 Ponera. They measure from 4.5 to 6 mm. in length. 



What I have said of the care of the eggs, larvae, and pupae 

 of P. coarctata is equally true of Stigmatomma. 



The larvae are fed in the very same manner as other Ponerine 

 larvae. In one of the nests on Naushon Island a large larva 

 was seen with its head and neck inserted in the two last seg- 

 ments of a beetle larva (Tenebrionid}, which must have been 

 captured and disarticulated by the ants. In my artificial nests 

 the ants carried the larvae of Formica pallide-fulva to their 

 own young. The latter could be distinctly seen sucking the 

 juices of the Formica larvae till they were reduced to shriveled 

 skins. These were then carried away and placed on the refuse 

 heap. 



I have succeeded in surprising the callows in the act of 

 escaping from their cocoons. This they do, as Forel believed 

 to be the case with P. coarctata, without any assistance from 

 the workers. Several cocoons were isolated in a watch-glass, 

 and I had an opportunity of seeing a female, two males, and 

 several workers emerge entirely by their own efforts. The 

 ant gnaws through the wall of the cocoon at a spot a short 

 distance behind the anterior pole. The shape of the incision 

 at once indicates whether a male or a female (or worker) is 



1 Compare, e.g., my figures of the larvae of Pogonomyrmcx barbatits, loc. ri/., 

 p. 20, Fig. 9. 



