164 Journal New York Entomological Society, t^'o'- ^i^- 



I have been unable as yet to find X. caz'a, during its breeding 

 season, with any ant except Formica schaiifiissi var. inccrfa. but 

 McCook' claims to have taken it with F. cxscctoidcs in Pennsylvania, 

 and Muckermann* believes that it occurs with F. sanguinca subsp. 

 riibiciiiiihi in Wisconsin, because in the nests of this ant he found 

 pseudogynes comparable to those described by Wasmann from nests 

 of the typical F. sauyniuca infested with Lomcchusa strumosa. 



Concerning six larvs of X. caz'a which I found July i. 1905, in 

 a nest of F. iuccrta at Colebrook, Conn., I published the following 

 note in my former paper: "They were clinging to the lower surface 

 of the stone covering the nest. I transferred them to an artificial nest 

 together with as many of the ants as I could capture. The larvae 

 associated themselves with the brood which the ants had collected 

 in the cavities of the damp sponge in the dark chamber of the nest. 

 They walked about but little and very clumsily as their legs seemed 

 to be incapable of much movement at the strongly flexed articula- 

 tion between the femora and tibiae. They were frequently seen in the 

 act of begging the ants and one another for food. At such times they 

 raised their fore feet and stroked the head of the ant or fellow larva. 

 .'\lthough the ants usually responded very willingly to this solicita- 

 tion, the liquid food thus received seemed to be insufficient, for one 

 morning I saw one of the Xcnodiisa larv^-e seize and devour an ant 

 larva about 3 mm. in length. On July 7 two of the Xcnodiisa larvx 

 had disappeared (eaten by the ants?) and the remaining four had 

 become somewhat inactive after having grown appreciably during 

 their week's confinement in the artificial nest. Fearing that the ants 

 might devour the remaining parasites, and concluding from their size 

 that they must be nearly ready to pupate. I removed them from the 

 nest and embedded them in some earth. This proved to be disastrous 

 as T had not taken the precaution to sterilize the earth which must 

 have contained some ])redaceous insect. At any rate. 1 could find no 

 traces of the larv;e when I carefully examined the earth several 

 days later." 



Diligent search for Xcnodiisa larva? since these remarks were 

 written, was fruitless till June 13, 1910, when I found a single speci- 



^ Alound-making Ants of the .-Mleghenies. their Architecture and Habits. 

 Trans. .\mer. Ent. Soc, VI, 1877, pp. 253-296, pis. I-VI 



^ Formica sanguinea subsp. rubicunda Em. and Xenodusa cava Lee. Ent. 

 News, Dec, 1904, pp. 339-341, pi. XX. 



