68 
Psyche 
[June 
has been recorded hitherto on Erebomyrma , and, in fact, very little 
information is available on the entire tribe Pheidologetonini. 
The self-grooming movements of the minor worker are given as 
follows, according to the classification proposed recently for ants as a 
whole (Wilson, 1962): (1) oral leg cleaning, (2) antenna wiping, 
(3) four-leg wiping, (4) three-leg wiping, (5) two-front-leg wiping, 
(7) head wiping (8) abdomen wiping (front legs). The queen 
repeated all of these movements and in addition (10) metapleuron 
wiping, conspicuously missing in the worker. Other-grooming was 
as frequent as in most other myrmicines. The workers were especially 
attentive to the large queens, and a populous retinue followed each as 
it moved about. As many as six were seen riding on one queen’s body 
at the same time. 
Worker-to-worker regurgitation was frequent. The queens appar- 
ently were fed exclusively by worker regurgitation, and they never 
approached the prey. In several emigrations studied, adult transport 
was never observed. In one exceptional instance a worker carried a 
newly eclosed worked by its left middle and fore legs clumsily and a 
short distance over the brood pile, as though it were a piece of brood. 
Discussion: The Ecology of Cavernicolous Ant Species 
Penetration of caves by ants occurs chiefly in the tropics and is 
limited mostly to the dimly lighted (twilight) zone near entrances. 
The great majority of records belong to species that are obviously 
either trogloxenic (penetrating as foragers from nests outside) or 
troglophilic (facultatively cave-nesting). Further, these species are 
typically those that are among the most abundant, widespread, and 
adaptable members of the ant fauna in habitats outside the caves. 
For instance, a collection of ants made in 1959 in the Batu Caves, 
Malaya, by Mr. H. E. McClure and studied by the author, consisted 
primarily of three identifiable species \Bothroponera tridentata (Fr. 
Smith), Leptogenys dimmuta (Fr. Smith), Pheidole javana Mayr] 
that are among the most widespread and common members of their 
genera in the Oriental Region. Wheeler (1924) records Triglypho- 
thrix striatidens Emery from 400 feet inside the entrance of Siju Cave, 
Garo Hills, Assam ; this ant is a notably adaptable pantropical “tramp” 
and by far the most widely distributed Triglyphothrix. Of 16 species 
recorded from Yucatan caves by Wheeler (1938), 15 are identifiable, 
and of these 13 have very extensive ranges in the New World tropics; 
most are known further to be abundant in various habitats. The 
remaining two species \Brachymyrmex cavernicolus Wheeler, Para- 
trechina (Nylanderiaj pearsei Wheeler] belong to genera whose 
