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[Vol. 90 
the left antenna. Both became fertile again, and the brood still con- 
tained some hairy chamberlini larvae. Between 15 December and 26 
January, in a temperature rhythm of 12 hours/ 15°C and 12 hours/ 
25° C, several Leptothorax males, females and workers hatched, but 
no chamberlini larva reached the pupal instar. 
After raising the temperature to lOh/ 17°C and 14h/28°C on 2nd 
February, 1983, three chamberlini larvae became prepupae, and on 
10 and 12 March two prepupae molted into apterous male pupae. 
Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether breeding of chamberlini with 
that Leptothorax will be as successful as the experiments with For- 
micoxenus nitidulus and Leptothorax acervorum as host species 
(Buschinger 1976), since both pupae and the remaining prepupa 
were eaten during the following three days. In the mixed colony 
chamberlini! Leptothorax sp. we observed quite amicable relations 
between the two species. Often the chamberlini solicited food from 
Leptothorax workers, and sometimes they were seen licking the 
mouthparts of larvae. We never saw a chamberlini foraging outside 
the nest, where honey and pieces of Tenebrio or Periplaneta were 
offered as food. The chamberlini larvae, like those of the Lepto- 
thorax species, are fed with solid particles of the insect pieces. Lep- 
tothorax workers place the particles on the ventral surface of the 
larvae, which then chew and eat them. 
Discussion 
Our knowledge of the biology of this rare ant still remains frag- 
mentary. We can confirm the observation of Chamberlin, as 
reported by Wheeler (1904) in that we also found this ant in mixed 
colonies with Manica mutica, in the flood-plains of Jordan River 
near Salt Lake City. The guest ants are living within independent 
nests in the midst of prosperous Manica colonies. However, we 
could not observe whether they solicit food from their hosts, or 
what are the other relations of the two species. The observation 
mentioned in the previous section, experiment a, raises questions of 
whether the licking of chamberlini by the mutica hosts is linked to 
any important cuticular secretion. 
The nesting habits of S. chamberlini resemble closely those of 
Leptothorax provancheri, the guest ant of Myrmica incompleta 
Provancher (Buschinger et al. 1980). As was already suggested by 
