166 Journal Xew York Entomological Society, l-^■ol. xix. 



vested with rather dense, short liairs. The impression of the vertex is 

 shallow." 



I have not seen the larva of Atcmclcs, but that of A. paradoxus 

 from nests of F. ntfibarbis was long ago described and figured by 

 Wasmann." His figures show that this larva, though it has some- 

 what longer legs and antenn;e than the Lomcchusa larva, neverthe- 

 less resembles it much more closely than it does the larva of Xcno- 

 diisa. Wasmann states that the LomccJiusa ]arv;e are 'still more 

 passive in their behavior and almost never use their legs, and there- 

 fore plav the role of ant-larva" more perfectly than do the larvre 

 of Atemclcs." That the Atcmclcs larvae walk about rather easily is 

 evident also from some remarks in a paper l)y Schmitz.*' This author 

 and more recently Wasmann" have shown that Atemcles larva; when 

 ready to pupate, do not have to be buried by the ants, like the very 

 passive Lomcchusa larvae, but are able to crawl into the soil and 

 pupate of their own free will. There can be little doubt that this is 

 also true of the Xcnodusa larva, for its very high structural organiza- 

 tion, together with the few notes on its behavior quoted above, show 

 that it must lead a much more independent life in the colonies of its 

 host than do the larvae of either of the European genera. This inde- 

 pendence and the much less perfect resemblance to the ant-larva may, 

 perhaps, explain why the species is so scarce and sporadic. In other 

 words. F. inccrta, though a very cowardly ant and the regular host 

 of such synoeketes as Microdon fristis, Coscinoptcra dominicana and 

 Crcmastochcilus castanccc, and such social parasites as Polycrgus 

 lucidus. Formica consociaus. F. sanguinca subsp. subinfcgra and 

 rubicuuda. is prol)ably not easily deceived into rearing and cherish- 

 ing the parasitic beetle larvae which so ruthlessly devour its brood. 

 That this ant may be occasionally deceived is, however, proved by 

 the abundant occurrence of pseudogynes in certain colonies, a- 1 

 have shown in my paper on the polymorphism of ants. 



" I have given a figure of this peculiar larva in my book : " Ants, their 

 Structure, Development and Behavior," 1910, p. 4«i- 



' Beitrage zur Lebensweise der Gattungen Atemeles und Lomcchusa. 

 Tijdschr. v. Ent., XXXI, 1888. pp. 245-328. 



* Die Ursachen der Doppelwirtigkeit bei .Atemeles. Deutsch. Ent. Xat. 

 Biblioth., I, Xos. i and 2, 191 o, pp. 6-7, 1.3. 14. 



" Zur Doppelwirtigkeit der Atemeles. Deutsch. Ent. Xat. Biblioth., I, 

 X'os. 7 and 8, 1910, pp. 55, 56; 62-64. 



