54 WHEELER. [VOL. II. 



Nyl., var. apkidicola, an ant which in Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut is often found under the same stones with the Ponera. 

 The larger cocoons belong to the males and females, the 

 smaller ones to the workers. 



The eggs and larvae are looked after with great care by the 

 ants, as Forel has observed. 1 On a former occasion, however, 

 I expressed doubt concerning the validity of Forel's further 

 statement : " Lorsqu'on decouvre un nid de Ponera dans un 

 tronc pourri, on voit leur cocons jaunes assembles dans un 

 coin, mais absolument abandonnes des 9 qui n'essaient pas 

 de les sauver, ni de les recueiller." I have since had frequent 

 opportunity to observe these ants, and I am convinced that the 

 master myrmecologist is in error. It is true that the slightest 

 disturbance of the nest causes the ants to retreat into their 

 galleries and to forsake their cocoons, but when one stops to 

 watch the nest a few moments, one is sure to see the ants 

 returning one by one and stealthily removing their charges. 

 This they do rather awkwardly, walking backwards and drag- 

 ging the cocoons away without lifting them from the ground, 

 in marked contrast with Lcptogenys clongata, which straddles 

 the cocoon with its long legs and carries it away with surpris- 

 ing dexterity. Simple experiment with the artificial nests 

 shows that the cocoons of Ponera, when removed to a distance 

 of three or four inches from the chamber in which the ants 

 have stored them, are taken back in the space of ten to thirty 

 minutes. Nevertheless, Forel certainly deserves credit for direct- 

 ing attention to this matter of the care of the cocoons, for if one 

 has observed the way in which a large and highly specialized ant, 

 like our northern Formica pallidefulva ScJianfnssi, e.g., when its 

 nest is uncovered, rushes out in the very face of danger to rescue 

 its cocoons, the slow and awkward methods of P. coarctata cer- 

 tainly indicate a more primitive or possibly degenerate condition 

 quite in harmony with the other habits of this feeble little ant. 

 Further evidence that these ants care for their cocoons is seen 

 in their habit of continually creeping in and out among them, and 

 in the time which they devote to licking and cleansing them when 

 there are no longer any larvae to require these attentions. 



1 Loc. cit., p. 443. 



