BEHAVIOR OF ANTS AXD MYRMECOPHILES 417 



Wasmann (44) shows that in species of Atemeles living with 

 different hosts, varieties have originated which have characters 

 correlated with certain characters of the host. These are differ- 

 ences in size, color, sculpture and especially in abundance of 

 hairs. Such forms, he believes, should be considered as varie- 

 ties or subspecies and not as aberrations, as has been suggested 

 by other writers. These variations adapt the beetle only to 

 its summer host (Formica), each species of which has its par- 

 ticular form of guest, while with Myrmica, the winter host, 

 several varieties of Atemeles may live. 



Wasmann (46) describes a new Paussus from Ceylon, and 

 gives a list of the host ants of the family Paussidae, so far as 

 these are known. The hosts of only a small number (about one- 

 sixth) have been recorded. The Myrmecine ants, especially of 

 the genus Pheidole, most commonly harbor the beetles, but 

 several live with Camponotinae, and one species, Arthropterus 

 brevis West., lives with Ectatomma metallicum, an Australian Pone- 

 rine ant. None have been taken in nests of the Dolichoderinae 

 or with the Dorylinae. The Paussidae are the oldest known ant 

 guests, occurring in the Baltic amber. These amber-imbedded 

 forms are similar to living species, and the branching of this 

 family from the Carabidae must have taken place at a very 

 early date. Wasmann doubts whether the structure of the 

 beetles is the result of symphilic life, and points out the fact 

 that Pheidologeton is known from the upper Oligocene, while 

 the characteristic host genus, Pheidole, occurs first in the lower 

 Miocene. 



Wheeler (47) compares the ant colony to an organism, its 

 behavior and structure with a gigantic foraminiferous Rhizopod. 

 The nest, queen, mass of workers and files of foragers repre- 

 sent respectively the shell, nucleus, Plasmodium and pseudo- 

 podia. The ontogenetic development of the colony is clearly 

 comparable to that of a complete organism. The fecundated 

 queen represents a mobile, fertilized egg, capable of dissemin- 

 ating the species, and also of selecting the site for the develop- 

 ment of the colonial organism. The mass of workers make 

 up the nutritive organ. The first of these are nourished with 

 food derived by metabolism from the fat body of the queen, 

 and from her useless wing muscles. The first young soon 



