856 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VoL. XXXIV. 
mentions two species of Aleochara and an Atheta found in the 
entrances to the nests of AZta sexdens L. at San Paolo, Brazil. 
This short list of myrmecophiles led us to sift with consider- 
able care the gardens of the nest we excavated. The result 
was a single species of myrmecophile, but this appeared in 
considerable numbers — more than seventy specimens being 
taken from three of the large gardens — and proves to be a 
cockroach (Blattid) of very small size and peculiar structure. 
With the exception of four males and two females, all the 
lll; 'specimens are immature. The 
7e species appears to be undescribed, 
and as it does not belong to any 
genus of which I can find an ac- 
count, I propose to describe it as 
the type of a new genus under the 
name of Attaphila fungicola. 
In the artificial nests above men- 
tioned the little cockroaches were 
frequently seen moving in and out 
of the tubular perforations in the 
vegetable mass. Occasionally one 
of them would mount a huge 
soldier that was slowly patrolling 
Fro. 3.—Ataphila fungicola n.sp, the surface of the garden, and ride 
Minima ges about on its back or enormous head 
for minutes at a time. The ant did not appear to be in the 
least annoyed by this performance, nor did any of the other ants 
pay the slightest attention to the cockroaches when they were 
encountered inthe passages. It is probable that Attaphila, like 
the ants, feeds on the modified hyphee of the fungus. This is 
indicated by the fact that the intestines of several dissected 
specimens contained a whitish substance which may be the 
remains of the masticated mycelium. If this supposition 
proves to be correct, the relationship between the ants and the 
cockroaches is of a peculiar character. It is, in fact, a kind of 
myrmecoclepsy, or thieving. As the cockroaches eat the fun- 
gus cultivated by the ants for their own consumption, this kind 
of myrmecoclepsy may be said to differ from the typical form 
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