MYRMECOPHILOUS NOTES FOR 1908, IE 



rectum. I think the beast must feed on the soft parts and juices of 

 insects." Wasmann says,''= the ants appear to nurse these larvae as 

 they do their coccids, iDut, later, he writesf that the larvfe of this 

 species which he had found in a nest of F. sanfii(inea-fusca,at Linz-on- 

 the-Rhine, and had under observation for months, were entirely 

 ignored by the ants. Adlerz suggested]: that the larva) of a species of 

 Microdonhe had found in a nest of Campnuotiin hercidemuts in Sweden, 

 subsisted on the moist and tender wood, forming the walls of the ant- 

 galleries in pine-stumps, although they were also found in burrows in 

 the dry bark. He also records that the ants paid no attention to 

 them. 



Wheeler writes* of some larvae of an undetermined species of 

 Microiion, seen in a nest of F. conancians, at Colebrook, Conn., as follows 

 — " These were found, July 7th, in a single nest, under a large stone, 

 lying on a lot of twigs, grass-roots, etc. Three larvae were seen at this 

 time, one nearly mature, and one about a quarter grown. On the 

 twigs and lower surface of the stone there were some twenty empty 

 puparia from which the flies had already escaped. The three larvae 

 were placed in a " Fielde nest " containing several hundred F. consocians 

 workers. The two older ones at once applied their flat creeping-soles 

 to the glass bottom of the nest, and with their hard rough backs 

 resisted the attacks of the workers. The small larva was not so 

 successful. The ants turned it over on its back, and for two days kept 

 licking and biting it, till it was killed and reduced to a small granule. 

 The two large larvae kept crawling slowly about the nest. They raised 

 the anterior end of the body a little distance from the glass surface, 

 and moved the small pointed head, which is just beneath it, from side to 

 side, apparently in search of food. They showed signs of uneasiness 

 when exposed to strong light. They remained in good condition till 

 August 23rd, when one of them disappeared. It had probably been 

 eaten by the ants. The other lived till September 10th. Some days 

 previously it had begun to shrivel, and finally dried up without losing 

 its hold on the glass. I have failed to ascertain the nature of the food 

 of these larvfe. July 25th, I again visited the wild F. consocians nest, 

 but found that the ants had moved away. On the twigs there were 

 two more half -grown, but rat.her emaciated, Microdoii larvae, which 

 had been left behind by the ants. The fact that these larvae were so 

 emaciated, and died soon after they were placed in the same " Fielde 

 nest" with the others, shows that the presence of the ants is in some 

 way essential to the well-being of these singular synoeketes." 



We see from the above that Microdon larvae belong to the indiffer- 

 ently-treated lodgers, and that it is necessary for them to live with 

 ants. The question of their food, however, is still unsolved, and I 

 cannot agree with Adlerz that they subsist on wood, as so many species 

 occur in the bare earthen galleries in ants' nests. 



Araneina. — Thi/reosthemits biovata, Cambr. — I found this species in 

 nests of Formica rufa, at Haye Woods, near Knowle, in May and 

 Nethy Bridge, in September. 



* Kritiches Verzeichniss der rnyr7nekophilen und termitophilen Arthropoden, 

 1894. p. 173. 



t Erster Nachtrag zuder Ameisengasten von Hollandisch Limburg, 1898, p. 7. 

 I Myrmecologisker Notiser. Entomol. Teilschrift, 1896, pp. 131-132. 



* Bull. American Mus. of Nat. Hist., 1906, p. 62. 



