No. 2.] HABITS OF PONERA AND STIGMA TOM M.I. 65 



male genitalia of Stigmatomma sermtum Hald. are constructed 

 " soweit es ohne Zergliederung zu sehen ist, ganz nach dem 

 gewohnlichen Ponerinentypus." 



It would seem, therefore, that there are no very cogent 

 reasons for adopting the subfamily Amblyoponinae, so far as 

 characters drawn from the adult structure are concerned. The 

 habits of Stigmatomma, as I have shown, are essentially the 

 same as those of the Ponerinae, so that there exist no eco- 

 logical grounds for accepting Forel's suggestion. The larva, 

 however, seems to me to show very clearly that there is a 

 greater gap between the Amblyoponii as a tribe of Ponerinae, 

 and the tribes Ponerii and Odontomachii, than between the 

 two last-mentioned groups. It must be remembered, however, 

 that the larvae of two tribes of Ponerinae, the Australian 

 Myrmecii and the cosmopolitan Ectatommii, have not been 

 described, and that when these are known the striking differ- 

 ences between the Amblyoponii and the Ponerii may be recon- 

 ciled. If, as Emery suggests, 1 the Myrmicinae are descended 

 from the Ponerinae, it is obvious from a study of the larvae 

 that the former subfamily must have come from forms with 

 larvae like the Amblyoponii, a group which in other respects 

 also is generally regarded as very primitive. 2 For the present 

 I can see no reasons for altering the excellent classification 

 outlined by Emery in his Dorylus paper. 



There still exists an ecological (or biological, in the German 

 sense) connection between the Ponerinae and the Myrmicinae, 

 as I have lately ascertained. Since describing the peculiar 

 method employed by the Texan Ponerinae in feeding their 

 larvae, I have found that one of our New England Myrmicine 

 ants, Stenamma (Aphaenogaster) fuhnim Rog., subsp. aquia 

 Buck!., var. piccnm Emery --an ant very common under stones 

 and in rotten logs along the edges of woods --has essentially 

 the same method of feeding its young ! My attention was first 



1 Loc. at., p. 773. " Dagegen liefern die Ponerinen offenbar die Wurzel, aus 

 welcher die iibrigen Unterfamilien der Ameisen (i.e., after excluding the very 

 primitive Dorylinae !) d. h. die Myrmecinen, Dolichoderinen und Camponotinen 

 entsprossen sind." 



2 Emery, loc. cit., p. 774, suggests that the Myrmicinae may be related to the 

 Kctatommii, while the Dolichoderinae are more closely allied to the Ponerii. 



