OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROGENY OF VIRGIN ANTS. 359 



and was immediately removed to a small nest, where there were 

 several newly hatched workers and males of Stcnamma fiih'iiui, 

 this group being originally created for observation of the behavior 

 of a queen having a family made up of ants of other species 

 than her own. When the queen was but a few days old, I 

 clipped off her wings to secure her greater safety from accident 

 among the viscid food-stuffs in the nest. During the ensuing 

 year, all the males died, and three more were hatched from 

 eggs deposited by the Steuaumia workers. I did not expect 

 this queen to lay eggs, because I had previously kept unmated 

 queens (of Stenamma fulvum) a whole year without their losing 

 their wings or depositing an egg during that period. Dr. Mc- 

 Gregor also kept winged queens (of Camponotns americanus) ten 

 months without their losing their wings or depositing eggs. 



On July 31, 1904, I removed all the Stenavnnas from this nest, 

 cleaned it thoroughly, and gave to the queen forty newly hatched 

 workers from her own colony, probably her own sisters. Three 

 days later there were ten eggs in the nest, and on August 21 

 there were more than three hundred. That these eggs had been 

 laid by the queen was indicated by their size and by the imma- 

 turity of all the workers in the nest. The queen was eight milli- 

 meters in length, the workers only three to four millimeters. 

 Moreover, I compared the eggs with those of an isolated queen, 

 Crcmastogastcr lincolata, and found them to match precisely. 



Young larvae were first observed among the eggs on August 

 28 ; the first pupa appeared on December 22, 1904, and two 

 males hatched on January 10, 1905. These, when a day old, 

 were transferred to Dr. W. M. Wheeler for expert examination 

 concerning signs of hybridization, and were by him reported to 

 be typical Cremastogaster lincolata males. Their successors in 

 the nest were like them. No male was permitted to mature in 

 the nest, all except the first two being removed before hatching. 

 Before the end of September, 1905, sixty-three males had been 

 produced in this nest, the offspring of this virgin queen. No 

 young queen or worker had been seen, though the pupae in this 

 species are always naked, and the young had been carefully exam- 

 ined at least twice a week. 



While this Cremostogaster lineolata virgin queen was producing 



