402 W. D. FUNKHOUSER 



Baer (1903:306) has described the closely related species Enchenopa 

 ferruginea Walk, as being attended by ants, and he has observed this 

 species giving off honeydew. 



Nymphs of Stictocephala inermis have occasionally been seen attended, 

 but the attendance may have been accidental since the insects have never 

 been seen to give off the anal fluid. Careful studies of other species 

 of this genus in other parts of the United States (cf. Wildermuth, 1915) 

 have failed to record any such phenomena. 



Records in literature of Telamona amyelo-psidis give no mention of 

 the presence of ants, but locally the nymphs of the species, at least, are 

 attended. 



The species of ants concerned in the process seem to be common to all 

 the Membracidae. Where two sjDecies of Membracidae are abundant 

 on a host at one time, the same kinds of ants may be found attending 

 both species, but the same individual ant has never been observed to jrn 

 from one species to the other in collecting the secretion. The local species 

 of ants that attend the Membracidae have been determined by Professor 

 W. M. Wheeler as follows: Formica ohscuriventris Mayr., Formica exsic- 

 toides Foril, Camponotus pennsylvanicus DeGeer, Crematogaster lineclata 

 Say, and Prenolepis imparts Say. Only those species are recorded that 

 have actually been observed taking the secretion from the membracid. 

 It is possible, therefore, that the list does not include all the ants which 

 take part in the performance, but that other species may be added by 

 future obsei-vations. Miss Branch (1913:81) reports Formica fusca and 

 Prenolepis imparis as being attendant upon Entylia sinuata, and Mrs. 

 Rice (1893) describes the same species of membracid as being attended 

 by ants but neglects to mention the species of ants observed. Ball (1915) 

 likewise records ants in attendance upon Va7iduzea vestita Godg., but 

 does not give the species. In fact, in very few of the casesjn which 

 this subject has been mentioned in literature in this country has the 

 determination of the ant concerned been made and reported, altho records 

 giving these data for exotic Membracidae are numerous. In the records 

 available it would appear that the species of Formica are oftenest note I 

 as attending Membracidae. Professor Wheeler, in determining ants 

 taken with South African membracids collected by David Gunn, has 

 written (in correspondence) as follows: ''These ants [Plagiolepsis 

 custodiens F. Smith] represent in South Africa our species of Formica 



