1 66 



C. H. TURNER. 



That the same female accepts the attentions of several males and 

 that the same male serves several females I have established by 

 experiments conducted as follows : A number of males, captured 

 as soon as they alighted on the mound, were confined, by means 

 of cotton plugs, in a small test-tube. In a second test-tube, was 

 placed a single female. Into this second tube a single male was 

 introduced. As soon as the pair had separated after coition, that 

 male was removed and a fresh male introduced. This was 

 repeated until the female refused to mate. A dozen experiments 

 of this sort were conducted. The greatest number of males 



a 



a 



FIG. 5. FIG. 6. 



FIG. 5. Mound of P. badius, surface view, a, entrances ; l>, debris, mostly plant 

 matter, from the nest. There is a depression around the main opening. Greatest 

 length, 38 in.; greatest width, 31 in. 



FIG. 6. Mound of P. badius, surface view, a, entrance ; b, debris, mostly plant 

 matter, from the nest. Scattered over the top of the nest, are numerous pebbles and 

 bits of coal. Near the opening there is a depression which slopes towards the open- 

 ing. Near the edge there are a few stalks of grass. Greatest length, 39 in. ; 

 greatest width, 34 in. 



accepted by the same female was four ; the least number was 

 two. After the last successful coition, the introduced male always 

 tried to copulate, but in vain. On the mound, on several dif- 

 ferent occasions, I have seen the same female copulate with two 

 different males. 



In another series of a dozen experiments, several females were 

 removed from the top of the mound and confined in a cotton- 

 stoppered test-tube. In another tube was confined a male that 

 had just arrived at the mound. One of the females was intro- 



