380 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



Ants attacking Female Imagoes. 



The following field observations show that the female 

 imagoes, while laying, are often attacked and killed by 

 black ants. 



Aug. 11, 1894, a female, trying to deposit an egg-cluster 

 on the trunk of an oak tree, was attacked at 10.20 a.m. 

 by a large black ant, which seized her antennae with its 

 mandibles. The ant was captured, and the moth resumed 

 laying ; but at 1.40 p.m. was found in a hole in the ground, 

 with a number of ants working upon her. One leg was 

 gone and two more nearly severed from the body. At 2.40 

 all of the legs and both antennae were missing, and the 

 wings nearly destroyed. At 4.40, the thorax having been 

 severed from the body and the abdomen opened from the 

 anterior end, the ants commenced to carry off the egg- 

 masses. 



Another female moth, while crawling in the grass, was 

 attacked by the ants at 11.40 a. which seized her by the 

 ovipositor and dragged her some distance. At 2.40 p.m. 

 the ants, still at work, had torn the head from the body and 

 carried it up into the tree, and soon after they opened the 

 abdomen and greedily devoured the ovarian tubes. A third 

 female, just beginning to lay, was seized by a large black 

 ant, which dragged her to the ground, where nine more ants 

 began to dissect her. The antennae and legs were removed, 

 the abdomen opened, and the ants soon began feeding upon 

 the eo^of-masses. 



To determine whether the ants will eat the eggs, the fol- 

 lowing investigations were made : Four female moths were 

 divested of their heads and wings, the abdomens opened so 

 as to expose the egg-masses, and then placed at the base of 

 four tfees. In about half an hour two of the moths were 

 visited by several black ants, and a short time later nine 

 ants were working upon one moth. These ants feasted for 

 an hour or more upon the egg-masses, with their mandibles 

 closed and their heads thrust down among the eggs, as if 

 sucking up the body fluids. Then they began to sever the 

 thorax from the abdomen and to tear off small clusters of 

 eggs, from three to seven each, and carry them with the 



