438 WILLIAM M. MANN 



which had been carefully weighed was placed before the ants 

 in their nest, and the discarded refuse and pellets were after- 

 wards weighed and a chemical analysis of the substance was 

 made both before and after the ants had had access to it, so as 

 to ascertain just what proportion of the total quantity and 

 what nutritive properties of each had been consumed. Some 

 of the paste was fed by the ants to theii larvae after being 

 softened by malaxation. The larvae ate this readily, so Emery 

 decided that the making of "larval bread" as desciibed by 

 Neger, is not necessary. The workers consumed about 7.3% of 

 the starch in the paste in order to digest it or give it as food to 

 the larvae. The quantity ot non-starchy foods was not ascer- 

 tained, but Emery assumes that the nitrogenous portions are 

 more important than starch. 



The harvesting ants are descended from insectivorous forms, 

 which have taken up the grain -storing habit as an adaptation 

 to life in the desert, on steppes, etc., where during parts of the 

 year insect food is scarce. Seeds can be stored and kept, which 

 is not true of insect food. Emery notes that the species studied, 

 though a typical harvesting ant, never refuses insect food. 



Ernst (16) placed a number of queens of Lasius flavus in an 

 artificial nest. Eggs laid by these developed rather slowly, but 

 produced larvae and imagines. The latter, while yet callows, 

 disappeared, and Ernst found portions of their bodies and in 

 the same place two individuals of the mite, Laelaps oophilus, 

 which must have been introduced into the nest on the bodies 

 of the females. ' The number of mites increased very rapidly 

 till the bottom, sides and covers of the nest, twelve by nine cm. 

 in dimensions, were swarming with them. Many were among 

 the eggs and even crawled upon the ants' heads, from which 

 they were dislodged by vigorous shaking. A living callow lying 

 on the bottom of the nest was seen to be attacked by numerous 

 mites, most of which were on the thorax and legs. The next 

 morning only portions of the ant were found, the probability 

 being that the mites had taken it to pieces, though this was not 

 actually seen. The mites in the nest died off very suddenly, so 

 observations could not be continued. Ernst, from a long series 

 of observations, believes that ants are capable of forming attach- 

 ments to one another. Though an ant recognizes and is friendly 



