1907.] Wheeler, The Polymorphism of Ants. 45 



was provided with a kind of disk, which adhered so tightly that both larva? 

 could be killed in alcohol without separating. The collar-like larva was 

 broad behind the middle, but tapered anteriorly to a very slender thoracic 

 region and head provided with small jaws (Fig. 69 z). These were sup- 

 ported by a chitinous frame-work of such characteristic structure as to show 

 that the adult form must be a true Dipteron. The very smooth and tense 

 integument, which was armed with some short, hooked bristles, was very 

 transparent, so that the peristaltic movements of the viscera were clearlv 

 visible. 



As soon as the ants had been transferred to the Lubbock nest they were 

 given a number of young larvae of Camponotits maccooli var. sansaheanus 

 Buckley. These they soon proceeded to malaxate with their mandibles, 

 twirling the morsels about in the meantime with their fore legs and lapping 

 up the exuding juices with their tongues. Finally they deposited the crum- 

 pled and pulpy remains of the Camponoti on the trough-like ventral surfaces 

 of their larvae, which had been previously placed on their backs in a rough 

 chamber dug in the earth of the nest. This chamber was immediatelv 

 under the glass roof-pane, so that further developments could be closely 

 observed with a pocket lens. Each ant-larva at once stretched forth its 

 head eagerly and began to devour the viands with which it had just been 

 provided. At the same moment the Dipteron larva, too, as if sniffing the 

 odor of the fresh food, unwound its tapering neck from the ventral surface 

 of its host, and withovit shifting the attachment of its posterior end, at once 

 plunged its mandibles into the food. Under the lens both larvae could be 

 seen greedily dining side by side till the last particle of Camponotus larva 

 had been consumed or prematurely removed by the worker ants. 



When the ant-larvae were huddled close together, a collar-like larva was 

 sometimes observed to reach over and help itself from the food supply of a 

 neighbor; but even when thus compelled to crane its neck to the utmost, 

 it never shifted the attachment of its caudal end. Sometimes when there 

 was no food within reach it would tweak with its sharp little jaws the sensi- 

 tive hide of a neighboring ant-larva, till the latter squirmed with pain. It 

 would sometimes even tweak its own host, as if to make it wriggle and per- 

 haps thereby incite the worker ants to bring a fresh supply of provisions. 



The following day two living myriopods (Lifhobius) were placed in the 

 nest. During the morning hours they were killed by the Pachycondyla 

 workers, shorn of their many legs, cut up into pieces of convenient length, 

 malaxated, and fed to the larvae as on the preceding day. And again I was 

 able to witness the strange banquet — the dwarf reaching down from the 

 shoulders of the ogre and helping himself from the charger formed by the 

 trough-like belly of his host. The same observation was repeated on sev- 



