1966 ] Blum and Portocarrero — Chemical Releasers 153 
Table 2. Numbers of Sericomyrmex , Trachymyrmex , and Atta 
workers responding to the poison gland secretion in the artificial test. 
Number of replications in parentheses 9 . 
Test species 
Source species 
Sericomyrmex 
urichi 
Trachymyrmex 
septentrionalis 
A tta 
texana 
Sericomyrmex urichi 
Trachymyrmex 
78(8) 
0 (8) 
40(10) 
septentrionalis 
10(8) 
90(8) 
91 ( 10) 
Atta texana 
0(8) 
88(8) 
96(10) 
the failure of Sericomyrmex to follow Daceton trails would indicate 
that its trail pheromone was different from those of the other attines. 
Circular trails were prepared from extracts of the poison glands of 
S. urichi, T. septentrionalis and A. t ex ana, and the response of 
workers of each species to the trails was determined. The results, 
presented in Table 2, demonstrate that S. urichi does not follow the 
odor trails of A. texana or T. septentrionalis. Similarly, the trail 
substance in the poison gland secretion of Sericomyrmex releases 
virtually no trail following in workers of T. septentrionalis and is 
only slightly active when tested with workers of A. texana (Table 2). 
DISCUSSION 
Although Daceton armigerum does not lay odor trails, its venom 
contains a substance which is either similar or identical to the trail 
pheromones employed by attines in the genera Trachymyrmex, 
Acromyrmex, and Atta. In all probability this substance is a trace 
constituent of the poison gland secretion produced by Daceton. The 
venom of Daceton is rich in proteins which solidify when the poison 
vesicle is ruptured in the air. An attine odor trail pheromone can 
be readily extracted from the solidified venom without a measur- 
able weight loss occurring and it is probable that a trace component 
is being removed during the extraction process. Similarly, the odor 
trail pheromones can be extracted from the solidified attine venoms 
without causing any detectable weight loss in the venomous residues. 
The attine venoms, like that of Daceton , are rich in proteins but in 
addition, the poison gland secretions of the attines contain large 
series of free amino acids which cannot be detected in the venom 
of Daceton. 
More evidence that the venom of Daceton contains an attine odor 
trad nheromone is derived from the fact that the Attaphila follow 
9 Ten workers per replicate. 
