ADOPTION OF QUEENS BY ALIEN SPECIES. 2QI 



There are no published accounts of the occurrence of this 

 species in mixed nests in this country, but Professor Wheeler 

 found such a nest this last spring near Boston, and has kindly 

 given me permission to use the note which he made of it at the 

 time. "April 10, 1910. On the northern slope of Great Blue 

 Hill, under a stone, I found a mixed colony consisting of a dealated 

 queen and about 80 workers of Formica obscuriventris with about 

 100 workers of F. subsericea. There were a few larvae evidently 

 of the former species in the nest." 



On a trip to that same locality with Professor Wheeler, August 

 17 we came across a very large colony of this species which ex- 

 tended under several good sized stones from which we secured 

 10 dealated or partially dealated queens. The fact that they 

 had been partially dealated indicates that they had probably 

 been fertilized and readopted by the colony. The particular 

 slope upon which this nest was found was very rich in nests of 

 F. subsericea. I brought the queens of F. obscuriventris to the 

 laboratory and also a large number of workers and brood from 

 a colony of F. subsericea. 



I divided the subsericea colony into five groups of workers 

 and brood and tried one or more of the obscuriventris queens with 

 each group. The behavior on the part of the queen and workers 

 was the same in each case. Some of the workers attacked the 

 queen, some began at once to lick her and others alternated 

 between licking and biting her. The queen always seemed to 

 show surprise at receiving such harsh treatment so different from 

 what she was accustomed to receiving from the workers in her 

 own nest. Then she would try to get away and finding that 

 impossible would turn and<> bite a worker, sometimes producing 

 a wound that caused death. If the subserica colony was a large 

 one the queen was soon killed, but in the smaller colonies the 

 workers, after a time, ceased their attacks and began to tolerate 

 her presence in the nest, while more and more of them began 

 to treat her as their own queen. I will give full notes on one 

 experiment which shows the difference in results attained in 

 using large and small colonies. 



B. 226. 



August 18 11.30 A.M. I place a queen (I think the mother queen from the 

 colony) of Formica obscuriventris in light chamber of a Fielde nest containing 



