A Monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. 485 



All the members of the genus are very fond of sugary substances, 

 and for this reason most of them are aphidicolous and coccidicolous, 

 and also cultivate the society of Membracid, Fulgorid and Lycaenid 

 larvae for the sate of their secretions. In some Indian species (sub- 

 genus Physocrema) the ants appear to be able to draw on a supply of 

 fluid furnished by their own bodies and secreted by the epinotal 

 glands. These glands, which are probably to be found in most ants, 

 are gi-eatly developed in this sub-genus, so that the epinotum becomes 

 greatly inflated. The gland communicates with the exterior by a 



median cctviinc 

 or tube re /e 



7 I posterior dnd'/e oi 



''fronofu.m.. 



dec// v/'iy of ^ „ y 



7Tiesonol'urn . 



I 



posterior TTicLrg'tn M 



of / itsecTm enlr \ 



' \ 



\ anterior' f^t. 



leyicfth of 



peduncle, __ __j 



nodt of "^^"Hl '''■■ ) — <Hk ( /T 



2^ Jed (divided. £ """V^. _ YJ ar-ticu Ia rport/brv 



■ %- a l K' 7,</»c) ^of/fTc. ^'l? Seer merit' 



into ttsfo cLiscsj / a 



Fig. 31. — Thorax and petiole (semi-diagrammatic), Cremastog aster, $. 



small aperture on each side situated below or behind the stigmatic 

 orifice. Bingham remarks that " in live specimens there seems to be 

 a continual flow from this aperture of a sweet fluid, and I have watched 

 the Q ty of C. johysothorax licking one another's thoraces vigorously." 

 With the exception of an undetermined sp. of Microdon, which 

 was bred from the nest of C. castanea var. medio-rufa (collected at 

 Aberdeen, C.P., by Dr. Brauns), no records of parasitic or myrmeco- 

 philous insects attached to this genus are known to me from our South 

 African species. Nevertheless, in other parts of the world various 

 insects of different orders have been found in the nests of Cremasto- 



