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Psyche 
[June 
to Tingo Maria, where further artificial trail testing was performed 
using chloroform solutions of the Daceton poison glands. The fol- 
lowing species were also tested on the trails: Acromyrmex coronatus 
(F.) 5 , Acromyrmex nr. coronatus (F. ) 5 , and a cockroach, Attaphila 
sp. 5 , which was found in the fungus garden of A. coronatus. 
The Daceton workers then were frozen and packed in dry ice for 
air transport to the United States. Workers of Trachymyrmex 
septentrionalis (McCook) 6 , Sericomyrmex urichi Forel 7 , and Atta 
texana (Buckley) 8 were tested on artificial trails prepared from 
methylene chloride solutions of poison glands dissected from the 
frozen Daceton workers. 
RESULTS 
Although Daceton workers do not follow artificial trails prepared 
from their own poison gland secretion, these trails release strong 
trail following in attine members of the genera Trachymyrmex , 
Acromyrmex , and Atta (Table i). On the other hand, workers of 
Sericomyrmex urichi did not follow trails prepared from the venom 
of Daceton. The concentration of the attine odor trail pheromone in 
the venom of Daceton appears to be the same as it is in the venoms 
of the attines. Extracts which were prepared from Daceton and 
Atta poison glands of equivalent size exhibited about the same odor 
trail potencies after serial dilution. 
It is quite likely that the Attaphila are responding to the same 
compound in the venom of Daceton as are the attines. Moser ( 1965) 
has shown that Attaphila fungicola Wheeler will follow artificial 
trails prepared from the venom of both A. texana and T. septentrio- 
nalis. Although Moser reported that A. texana workers were more 
sensitive to the odor trail pheromone than the cockroaches, we noted 
that the Attaphila held to the artificial trails much more tenaciously 
than the ant workers in any of the genera. 
Since Sericomyrmex urichi did not follow artificial trails prepared 
from the venom of Daceton, we wished to determine whether or 
not this attine would respond to artificial trails prepared from the 
poison glands of other attines and vice versa. Assuming that the 
venom of Daceton contains a compound which is similar to those 
employed by several of the attine genera as trail substances, then 
Collected at Tingo Maria, Peru. 
Collected at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 
’Collected at Trinidad by Prof. Neal A. Weber, Department of Biology, 
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa. 
Collected at Pineville, Louisiana. 
