LITERATURE FOR 1912 ON THE BEHAVIOR OF 

 ANTS AND MYRMECOPHILES 



WILLIAM M. MANN 

 Bussey Institution, Harvard University 



Miss Andries (i) made a detailed study of the taxonomy, 

 biology and development of the German species of flies of the 

 genus Microdon, which in their larval and pupal stages live in 

 ant nests. The species studied (M. rhenanus, mutabilis and 

 eggeri) live most commonly with species of Formica, though the 

 forms of eggeri were found also with Lasius. Fertilized females 

 of the fly readily oviposited on bark, inserting the ovipositor 

 into cracks. About one hundred and fifty eggs are laid, five to 

 eighteen in a lot. These hatch in about twelve days. The 

 larvae are not unlike certain slugs, and in fact were described 

 by some early writers as mo Husks. They crawl slowly about 

 in the nest, secreting from the mouth a fluid that keeps the 

 under side of the body moist. The food habits are not under- 

 stood. Andries thinks that they feed on the vegetable mois- 

 ture in the nest, as no solid food was found in any of the speci- 

 mens sectioned. The relationship of the fly in its different stages 

 to the ants is not well understood. It was formerly supposed 

 by Wasmann that the larvae were treated like big Coccidae. 

 Those kept by Andries were entirely ignored by the ants, and 

 it was noted that when nests in the field were disturbed the 

 ants removed their brood to a place of safety, while the Micro- 

 don larvae remained behind unnoticed. Wasmann has observed 

 the ants lick the golden hairs of freshly emerged adults, but 

 Andries notes that the adults, both in the field and in observa- 

 tion nests, were treated inimically by the ants, which seized 

 them by the legs and wings. She succeeded in bringing growing 

 larvae through to the adult stage apart from ants, and does not 

 believe that Microdon is closely dependent upon its host. 



Brun (3), after numerous experiments on the colony forming 

 habits of Formica, believes that the higher acervicolous species 

 in the genus are descended not only morphologically, but also 



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