1952] 
Wheeler and Wheeler ■ — Ant Larvae 
111 
anterior surface moderately spinulose, the spinules minute 
and isolated or in short transverse rows ; palp a stout sub- 
cone bearing three apical and one lateral sensilla; opening 
of sericteries a short transverse slit (concealed in a groove) . 
Submature: Shaped somewhat like a crookneck squash, 
the thorax forming a moderately slender neck which is 
strongly arched ventrally, the abdomen elongate, sub- 
ellipsoidal and moderately stout; posterior end narrowly 
rounded. Anus subterminal. Otherwise as in the mature 
larva. 
(Material studied: numerous larvae from North Da- 
kota.) 
Pogonomyrmex ( Ephebomyrmex ) imberbiculus Wheeler 
Wheeler, 1902, p. 90: House flies were “cut into pieces 
and fed to the larvae in the same manner as I have des- 
cribed for the Ponerinae and some Myrmicinae. On one 
occasion nearly every larva in the nest could be seen munch- 
ing a small piece of house fly. But a still more remarkable 
method of feeding was adopted after a few days, when the 
supply of insect food was exhausted. Then the ants were 
seen to bring seeds from their granary, crack them open 
with their strong mandibles, and, after consuming some of 
the softer portions themselves, to distribute the remainder 
among their larvae. The latter could be seen under the 
lens cutting away with their mandibles and devouring the 
softer starchy portions of the seeds . . These observations 
show that the larvae of certain ants are not only able to 
subsist on solid food, but even on food of a vegetable nature. 
The adaption of what were probably once exclusively carni- 
vorous ants to a vegetable diet, although not yet complete, 
is, nevertheless, so far advanced that the larva already 
participates in the peculiar feeding habits of the adult in- 
sect. The P. imberbiculus seem not to possess the power of 
feeding one another or their larvae by regurgitation. At 
any rate they were not seen to make use of this method in 
the artificial nests.” (Brief mention by Wheeler, 1910, p. 
284 and 1933, p. 15 and by Wheeler and Bailey, 1920, p. 
251.) 
Pogonomyrmex ( Ephebomyrmex ) naegelii Forel 
Eidmann, 1936, p. 39: “Die sparlich beborsteten Larven 
