23 s .-L\TS. 



lor 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 dragging the cocoons away without lifting 

 them from the ground, in marked contrast with Lobopclta cloayata, 

 which straddles the cocoon with its long legs and carries it avvav with 

 surprising dexterity. A simple experiment with the artificial nest 

 shows that the cocoons of Poncra, 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. Forel deserves 

 credit for directing attention to this matter of the care of the cocoons, 

 for when one has observed the way in which a large and highly special- 

 ized ant, like Formica schaufnssi, for example, when its nest is uncov- 



FIG. 136. Odontoponera transversa of the Indomalayan Region, a, Worker: b, head 



of same from above. (Bingham.) 



ered, rushes out in the very face of danger to rescue its cocoons, the 

 slow and awkward movements of Poncra certainly indicate a more 

 primitive, or possibly degenerate condition quite in harmony with its 

 other habits. Further evidence that it cares for its cocoons is seen in 

 its habit of continually creeping in and out among them, and in the 

 time which it devotes to licking and cleansing them when there are no 

 longer any larvae to require its attention. 



Forel is also of the opinion that Poncra callows, unlike those of 

 higher ants, may be able to escape from their cocoons without the 

 assistance of the workers. I have not observed the hatching of P. 

 pennsylvanica, but in another Ponerine of similar habits, Stigina- 

 tomina pallipcs, I have surprised the callows in the act of escaping from 

 their cocoons. 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 short distance behind the anterior pole. The shape 

 of the incision at once indicates whether a male or female for worker) 

 is about to emerge. In the latter case the opening, which is produced 

 by the huge mandibles, has the form of a transverse slit, extending half 

 way around the cocoon. The small, sharp mandibles of the male, 

 however, make a hole with irregular edges and of a much smaller size. 



