ANTS. 



In 1901 \\'asmann published some observations on the European 

 M . accrvoruni and also called attention to the all but forgotten work 

 of Savi ( 1819) on this same insect. From these observations its 

 habits appear to be very similar to those of nebrasccnsis. This 

 cannot be said, however, of the south European ochracea. Both 

 Kmery (\\asniann, 1901) and Silvestri (1903) believe that this insect 

 feeds on the larva: of its host. It is probable, therefore, that the 

 species of M \rniecophila are more versatile in their relations to the 

 ants than has been supposed, and further observations should be made 

 in regions where these crickets abound. 1 



The little cockroaches of the genus AttapJiila ( Fig. 234) inhabit the 

 nests of the fungus-growing Attli and are the only insects known to live 

 on intimate terms with these ants. The type of the genus (A. fungicola) 

 which I described in 1900, from the fungus gardens of Ait a tc.vana. 

 measures only 3-3.5 mm. in length, is of a yellowish brown color and 

 has very small, apparently vestigial eyes, one-jointed cerci and peculiar 



antennae, consisting of a few cylin- 

 drical joints. The females are 

 wingless, the males have vestigial 

 tegmina and hind wings. The an- 

 tennae are always mutilated, their 

 terminal joints being bitten off. in all 

 probability while the ants are clip- 

 ping their fungi. The structure of 

 the remaining joints is so unlike 

 that of other Blattidse that Atta- 



FIG. 235. Oxysoma oberthneri on , ., , , . 



Myrmecocystus vi'aticus. (Escherich.) pMb has been regarded as the type 



of a distinct sub family, the Attaphi- 



linse. Since publishing my first account of this singular insect, I have 

 had an opportunity to observe its behavior in an artificial nest. It does 

 not feed on the fungus as I at first supposed, but mounts the backs of the 

 large . Itta soldiers and licks their surfaces after the manner of Mynnc- 



1 Since the manuscript of this book went to the printer, Schimmer has pub- 

 lished a fine account of the genus Myrmecophila, containing many valuable 

 observations on M. accrrorur.i (Beitrag zu einer Monographic der Gryllodeen- 

 gattung Myrmecophila Latr., Zeitschr. f. iviss. Zool., 93, 1909, pp. 409-534, pis. 

 22-24). He finds that this versatile insect not only feeds, like .17. iichrasccnsis, 

 on the surface secretions of its hosts, but also on liquid food solicited from them 

 directly, or stolen, after the manner of Atclura, while it is being disgorged by the 

 ants to one another, or just after it has been placed on the mouths of the larvae. 

 The cricket also eats dead ant larvse and the insect food brought into the nest. 

 No males of M. accrrnntm could be found, and Schimmer gives very good 

 reasons for regarding the females as permanently parthenogenetic and thely- 

 tocous. The eggs, which are very large (i.i mm. long and .56 mm. broad) are laid 

 among the ant's eggs and hatch in about six weeks from the time of oviposit inn. 



