42 
abdomen to load several eggs between its mandibles. Sometimes also 
the eggs of the kelep adhere somewhat in irregular clusters, so that 
several can be lifted and carried at once. 
The superior social organization of the kelep is also rendered evi- 
dent by important differences in feeding habits. 
The Ponerinze do not seem to feed one another, like the specialized ants. In 
captivity P. harpax would eat the yolk of an egg or even sugar, but it would not 
eat termites. L. elongata devoured termites and small caterpillars with avidity, 
but would not eat flies. O. hamatodes is more omnivorous; besides caterpil- 
lars, house flies, beetles, and small Hemiptera, it will eat sugar, bread, cake, 
etc.a 
The kelep does not appear to have the art of regurgitating food as do 
the true ants, but it is the regular custom of the workers to gather up 
on their mouth parts large drops of nectar, sirup, or honey, which 
are carried into the nest and freely dispensed to the remaining mem- 
bers of the community, as well as to the queen and larve. The use of 
nectar and other sweet substances by other Poneridz seems not to 
have been reported. The adult keleps seem to be able to live for an 
indefinite period on sugar alone, though animal food is probably 
necessary for the normal growth of the larve. Termites and insects 
of all the principal groups are eaten readily. 
The extent to which the keleps normally depend upon nectar has 
not been adequately learned as yet. It may be that they use it largely, 
if not exclusively, for feeding the very young larvee, since these do 
not seem to b> regularly fed with animal food, captured insects 
always being given, as far as observed, to the large larve. Colonies 
fed exclusively on sugar or honey have raised larvee to nearly the full 
size, but these seldom, if ever, pupate normally, and in some of the 
‘aptive colonies very few pup have survived to emerge as adults. 
Sometimes the cocoons are opened and the pupe taken out and eaten ; 
in other instances they are thrown on the bone yard or refuse heap 
which each colony maintains. Messrs. Lewton and McLachlan are 
inclined to believe, after a series of very careful observations, that 
this mortality is sometimes due to the attacks of the mites, especially 
when colonies become weak and discouraged. Prosperous colonies, 
on the other hand, may receive no aparent injury from the presence 
of large numbers of mites. , 
The most prosperous of the colonies which have been kept under 
laboratory observation is one at Victoria, Tex., which was used as 
the basis of a feeding experiment to see how many boll weevils it 
would destroy. From 10 to 30 weevils a day was the regular ration, 
« Wheeler, W. M., 1901, Biological Bulletin, 2:11. Mr. McLachlan reports that 
a colony of Pachycondyla harpax, captured near Victoria, devoured termites 
greedily. 
