62 THEODORE H. PRISON. 



Therefore, the larger the aquarium jars the better. If the queens 

 are kept in too close quarters, even though provided with 

 sufficient food, they soon become lethargic and die. Queens 

 kept in the right type of aquarium jars and well fed soon become 

 ' ' broody. ' ' By " broody ' ' I mean that the physiological processes 

 going on within the bodies of the queens cause them to display 

 characteristic nesting instincts. This is externally expressed by 

 the production of wax, embracement of lumps of pollen in the 

 jar, and excited buzzing and agitated movements when dis- 

 turbed. Some species respond more quickly to this treatment 

 than do others. 



As soon as the queens became broody I put them in artificial 

 nests. Usually two queens were placed in each nest, but I 

 conducted also ten experiments in which only one queen was 

 placed in each nest. Needless to say, when two queens were 

 placed in the same nest, they were usually of the same species, 

 but in some cases I purposely placed queens of different species 

 in the same nest-box. Before introducing two queens into the 

 same nest it is advisable to keep them in the same aquarium jar. 

 In this way they appear to acquire the same characteristic odor 

 and when placed in the nest the danger of the queens fighting 

 is somewhat lessened. Where two queens were kept in the same 

 box, in order to be able to distinguish them apart, I marked one 

 of them by clipping a notch in her wings. In this way it was 

 possible to keep an accurate account of the actions of each queen. 

 Each artificial nest was given a number when one or two queens 

 were introduced into it and observations made and notes taken 

 as often thereafter as possible. 



RESULTS. 



In Table I. is given the results that I obtained in getting queens 

 to start colonies in captivity. In 1915 and 1916, the methods 

 employed were very unsatisfactory and the fact that I did not 

 succeed in starting a single colony is not surprising. Under 

 "Remarks" in Table I. it is to be observed that in 1915 in two 

 of the experiments the queens at one time gave some evidence 

 of being interested in the nest. Though these experiments are 

 classed as failures they, nevertheless, gave me many suggestions 



