394 ./ATS. 



the Texan harvester ( I \njinioin\nnc.\- inolcfaciciis ). April 3, twenty 

 M \'nncc(>l>/ii!(i, eight or ten of which had been squeezed or had lost one 

 or both snltat<>r\ legs during capture, were placed in a Pogonomyrmex 

 inolefaciens not. All the disabled individuals were at once seized and 

 dispatched in so vindictive a manner that I could not doubt that the 

 ants were irritated by the pungent ynara nest-odor still clinging to the 

 crickets. In an instant all the ants in the compartment of the nest had 

 gathered in little groups, each devouring a Myrmecophila. The unin- 

 jured crickets made not the slightest attempt to escape, but felt them- 

 selves perfectly at home as soon as they set foot on the floor of the 

 nest. Their adaptation to a new nest and to an ant of larger size and 

 belonging to an entirely different subfamily from their former host, 

 was immediate and complete. With constantly vibrating antennas they 

 began to dodge in and out among the little groups of ants. From time 

 to time one of them would be seen cautiously approaching an ant, that 

 was busy with its dinner of Myrmecophila, and fall to nibbling at its legs 

 or the tip of its abdomen (Fig. 233 ). There could be no doubt that the 



FIG. 233. Myrmecophila ncbrascensis gnawing at the tibia of Pogonomyrmex 



inolefaciens. (Original.) 



cricket derived some benefit from the oily secretions covering the ant's 

 body. At first the ant disregarded this nibbling, which probably resem- 

 bles the attentions of the toilet habitually received from sister ants, but 

 the cricket's scraping mandibles and maxillae soon grew to be annoying 

 and the ant either moved away or turned her head, opened her man- 

 dibles and made a lunge at the Myrmecophila, like a large dog annoyed 

 by a puppy. But before the huge mandibles had closed, the cricket was 

 far away, nibbling at the gaster of some other ant. The cricket can 

 get at only the legs and gaster of its host, since the spreading legs 

 prevent its reaching the thorax. It often stands on its hind legs, as 

 represented in the figure, and places its fore legs on the ant's leg, in 

 order to reach the femur or tibia. For very obvious reasons it avoids 



