No. I.] A STUDY OF SOME TEXAN PONERINAE. 27 



which feed their larvae from day to clay with entire Diptera in 

 a fresh condition, resemble the Ponerinae more closely than 

 do the solitary wasps, which merely enclose their eggs with 

 paralyzed larvae, spiders, grasshoppers, etc. 1 From the con- 

 dition of the Ponerinae to that of the more specialized ants, 

 which feed their larvae with nothing but the liquid food regur- 

 gitated from their own crops or from their salivary glands, 

 the transition is very abrupt. But there are many ants whose 

 habits have not been studied, and some of these may yet be 

 found to bridge this chasm. 



In the second place, the above-recorded observations seem to 

 show that the Ponerine method of feeding the larvae is of 

 a most capricious and irregular character. The quantity and 

 quality of the food given to a particular larva, and the time it 

 is permitted to feed, seem to be matters requiring no very 

 strict regulation. The ants that feed the young rarely act in 

 concert, but rather with a whimsical individualism that seems 

 at times to border on the ridiculous. 



This irregular method of feeding suggests other consider- 

 ations of a wider bearing. It is generally admitted that the 

 polymorphism of the female sex in ants, i.e., the occurrence of 

 fertile females and of sterile females of one or more casts, is 

 in some manner correlated with the feeding of the larvae de- 

 veloped from fertilized eggs. In other words, the worker ants 

 can control the production of individuals like themselves and 

 of individuals like their queen. It is further maintained that 

 these differences are effected by the quantity and quality of 

 the food administered to the larvae at a certain period of their 

 development ; but here our knowledge ends. These data have 

 been accumulated from the study of the specialized Myrmicine 

 and Formicine ants of Europe and North America, and are 



1 Fine descriptions of wasps (Polistes) and Bembecids feeding their young 

 are to be found in the charming works of Fabre (Souvenirs Entomologiques, 

 i ser., 2m edit., Paris, 1894, pp. 126-128 and pp. 226 et seq.) and of Dr. and Mrs. 

 G. W. Peckham ("The Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps," Bull. Wis- 

 consin Geol. N. H. Survey, No. 2, 1899, 245 pages, 14 plates). Janet has described 

 the corresponding habits of Vespa ("fitudes sur les fourmis, les guepes, et les 

 abeilles." 10. Note. Sur Vespa media, V. silvestris, et V. saxonica, Mem. de la 

 Soc. Acad. dc Z'Oise, tome xvi, 1895, P- 39)- 



