1922 ] 
Conoaxima 
157 
Type from Quirigua, Guatemala, January 14, 1912. (W. 
M. Wheeler). This species undoubtedly attacks Azteca also, 
as Professor Wheeler took the specimen from the hollow thorn 
of an Acacia when collecting nests of Azteca at a place where 
these ants were abundant. 
The anatomical similarities between Conoaxima and Axima 
are interesting on account of the habits of the two genera. The 
first account of the habits of Axima was given by Howard 1 who 
cites a number of instances in which Axima zabriskei Howard 
has been reared from small bees under conditions that allow of 
little doubt that the Axima is a primary parasite. On three 
occasions the Rev. J. L. Zabriskie bred examples from nests of 
Ceratina dupla in stems of sumac at different localities in New 
Fork State. Howard found also in the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology at Cambridge specimens presumably bred by Mr. H. G. 
Hubbard from larvae found in burrows of a small blue bee at 
Fresh Pond in Cambridge, and further specimens in the Cornell 
University collection bred from a bee supposed to be Ceratina 
dupla. There can be no doubt therefore, that A. zabriskei 
attacks Ceratina and it is very probable that the other members 
of the genus parasitize small bees of some kind. 
Professor Bailey obtained also a single larva and pupa of 
Conoaxima. The larva probably full-grown is of quite unique 
form, due to the presence of a dorsal series of large, unpaired 
tubercles. The first of these is on the metathorax and each of 
the four following segments bears another one; those of the 
abdomen are larger than the metathoracic one and of about 
equal size. From the wrinkled appearance of the thin integument 
that covers the tubercles, it seems evident they are capable of 
considerable distension during life. After preservation in 
alcohol, the larger tubercles project for a distance of about one 
fourth the dorso-ventral thickness of the body and are more 
than half the width of the body segments to which they are 
attached. Following these there is a much smaller projection 
at the tip of the sixth segment and a minute one at the tip of 
the seventh. From the position of the head and the curvature 
1 Insect Life, vo!. 2, pp. 365-367, 3 figs. “A North American Axima and its Habits" 
(1890) 
