404 WILLIAM M. MANN 



very high, Santschi's experiment was not successful, and Cor- 

 net z points out that beneath the equator, with the sun more 

 or less perpendicular to the line of march, the ants are able 

 to maintain their direction. 



Cornetz notes a case of a memory of direction in Myrme- 

 cocystus bicolor, which had moved from one nest to another, 

 and for a long time traveled between the old and new nests. 



Davis (12) records the occurrence near Clayton, Georgia, of 

 a mixed colony of Formica exsectoides and Formica subsericea, 

 representing one of the stages in the colony formation of the 

 former species, which is a temporary social parasite. 



Donisthorpe (13) placed the larvae of a Chrysomelid beetle 

 (Cry ptoce phalu s fulvits Greg.) in a plaster nest with a few of 

 its host ant, Lasius fuliginosus. The larva acted like that of 

 the related genus Clythra, crawling about and feeding on the 

 refuse of the nest, and enlarging its case as it grew. When the 

 adult beetle emerged it was torn to pieces, either by the ants 

 or by other myrmecophiles (Myrmedoniae) which were present. 

 In nature the mature beetle would escape from the nest. 



Donisthorpe (17) placed workers, eggs and larvae of Formica 

 exsecta Nyl. into a small nest of this species which the year before 

 had been taken near the same spot. The workers intermingled 

 freely and behaved in a friendly manner towards one another. 

 He records Lasius umbratus as collecting small empty land 

 shells, and sitting on them. No explanation is offered of this 

 curious behavior. 



Two colonies of Leptothorax acervorum were placed together, 

 and apparently affiliated to form one colony. Donisthorpe 

 has never reared a female from eggs laid in captivity, and sug- 

 gests that the juices obtained from aphids may be necessary to 

 the development of the female larva. 



The myrmecophilous beetle Atemeles cmarginatus Pk. was 

 taken from a nest of its winter host Myrmica scabrinodis, and 

 placed in a nest of Formica fusca. The beetles remained away 

 from the ants for twenty-four hours, when, joining the ants, 

 they were readily received. This is regarded as additional 

 evidence that these beetles go into quarantine when leaving 

 the nest of one species of ant before entering that of another. 



A spider, Asagena phalerata, was observed catching ants 

 (Myrmica laevinodis) . It kept at some distance from the ant 



