52 
Psyche 
[June 
Two other habits of the major of texanus may be men- 
tioned. It should be apparent that when a major is in a 
closely confining passage its head has much the position 
of the blade of a snowplow. The concave surface of the 
cephalic disc slopes forward and downward and its lower 
rim is close to the floor of the passage. When a major moves 
forward along a passage any minors which are in it are 
pushed ahead of the advancing major unless they are 
active enough to force their way between the thoracic 
dorsum of the major and the roof of the passage. This 
sometimes leads to rather surprising results for workers 
clustered within the nest entrance may be suddenly ejected 
from the nest by the advancing major. Before assuming 
its phragmotic position the major often comes out of the 
nest entirely. After exploring the area immediately around 
the entrance it backs into the passage. This is never true 
of minors who always go through the nest entrance head 
first. 
Much remains to be learned about the feeding habits of 
texanus. In 1947 M. R. Smith published the statement that 
our species of Crypto.cerus feed “largely on honey dew or 
the flesh of small arthropods” (2) . This may be true but 
the writers were unable to discover any food for which 
the captive colonies showed much relish. They refused 
mealworms and termites, even when the latter were torn 
open to expose the tissues. High protein foods such as 
peanut butter and cheese were also refused. This would 
seem to indicate a distaste for a protein diet but other 
observations contradict such a view. While the ants re- 
fused pure honey they accepted honey mixed with egg 
yolk. In one instance an injured female was accidentally 
included when a colony was installed in an artificial nest. 
The gaster of this female had been broken open and her 
own workers promptly proceeded to eviscerate her. The 
gastric contents were completely cleaned out in a few 
hours. This action may have been due to some improper 
condition in the artificial nest and the food in this case 
can scarcely be the regular dietary staple of the insects. 
Yet it can be stated that was the only instance where the 
workers seemed at all interested in what they were eating. 
Other foods which were refused were pears, apples and 
