64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1881. 



also, and that this i)articular form of insect doom is unhappily 

 not rare has long ago been voiced in tlie familiar couplet : — 



" Great fleas have little fleas, they smaller fleas to bite 'em ; 

 Smaller fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum,^'' 



One might pass to the opposite pole of the zoological series — 

 TVIan — and add the I'eflection of Quintus Serenus upon the death 

 of the Dictator Sylla : — 



'* Great Sylla, too, the fatal scourge hath known, 

 * Slain by a host far mightier than his own," 



It might be supposed, at least I had so thought, that the 

 presence of these parasites would greatly irritate the ants, and 

 produce an excited behavior, and animated struggles to be rid of 

 their guests. On the contrary, they endured the affliction with 

 wonderful patience. It seemed to me, although one must allow 

 in such cases for the anthropomorphic color upon his observa- 

 tions, that the unfortunate creatures were quite conscious of their 

 doom, of the hopelessness of contending against it, and had 

 yielded tliemselves in a philosophic resignation. 



The mites are, in color, white, almost transparent, and are 

 about one millimetre in length. I am not certain as to the species, 

 but present correct drawings of the animals, from wdiich they 

 ma}' be determined by a competent authority. (See PI. VII, 

 figs. 40, 41). Greatly magnified views, in several degrees of ex- 

 pansion, of the sucking organs, by which the mites cling to their 

 host, are shown at figs. 42, 43, 44. 



XIII. Previous Accounts of the Honey-Ant. 



The first account of the Honey-ant was given to the world by Dr. 

 Pablo de Llave, in the year A. D. 1832, in a Mexican journal.' 

 A translation into French of the substance of this paper was given 

 by Monsieur H. Lucas in the French Review and Magazine of 

 Zoology, June, 1860.^ Meanwhile (1838), M. Wesmael had pub- 

 lished a description of the ant, with figures, without knowledge of 

 the above paper of Llave, establishing for it the Genus Myrmeco- 

 CYSTUS. Wesmael 's generic name remains, but his specific name 



^ Registro trimestre o collecion de Memorias de Historia literatura cien- 

 cias y Artes, 1832. 

 2 Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, Tome XII, 18G0, p. 271. 



