298 MAURICE COLE TANQUARY. 



B. iQ/6. 20 workers and 200 cocoons of L. americanus; 6 queens killed. 



B. 10/7. 20 workers and 150 cocoons of L. americanus; 6 queens killed. 



B. iQ/8. 12 workers and 100 cocoons of L. americanus; 3 queens killed, i an alpha. 



B. IQJIO. 30 workers, 7 queens, no brood of L. nearticus; 6 queens killed. 



B. IQ\II. About a dozen workers, 30 cocoons, of L. nearticus; 2 queens killed. 



B. IQJI2. About a dozen workers, i male and 30 cocoons of L. nearticus; i 



queen killed. 



B. 10/14. 30 workers, no brood, of L. claviger; two queens killed. 



B. IQ!IS. 50 workers, many cocoons of L. nearticus; i killed. 



B. iQJi6. 36 workers, many cocoons of L. brevicornis. 2 queens killed. 



B. 10/17. 8 workers and many cocoons of L. americanus; 4 queens killed. 



B. 10/18. 4 workers and many cocoons of L. americanus; 3 queens killed. 



B. iQliQ. 6 workers and a few larvae of L. americanus; 2 queens killed. 



B. IQ/2O. 30 workers and many cocoons of L. americanus; 2 queens killed. 



B. IQ/2I. 30 workers and no brood of L. minulus; i queen killed. 



B. iQ/22. 12 workers and no brood of L. inter jectus; i queen killed. 



B. I9J23. 25 workers and brood of L. latipes; i queen killed. 



The fact that more queens died in some of the colonies than 

 others has no significance, for in some of them I did not replace 

 the first queen. 



We thus have two positive cases of adoption of queens of 

 L. latipes by workers of other species of Lasius and the five records 

 given above show that latipes occurs in mixed colonies in nature. 

 At first thought it might seem that 2 adoptions out of 79 at- 

 tempts is entirely too small a percentage upon which to base 

 any conclusions whatever regarding the point of temporary 

 parasitism. Yet considering the fact that nests of L. latipes 

 are not found abundantly in nature and that the queens are 

 produced in the colonies in large numbers would we expect a 

 larger number of adoptions? It is very doubtful whether even 

 in L. americanus 2 .5 per cent, of the queens succeed in founding 

 colonies. 



Another possible explanation for the mixed colonies, however 

 may be suggested by an observation which I made on September 

 5. There had been a nuptial flight of L. americanus and L. 

 latipes and as I was walking through a park reservation not far 

 from the Bussey Institution between five and six o'clock in the 

 evening, I picked up off the ground 30 dealated females of 

 L. americanus and 5 dealated beta females of L. latipes. As I 

 had but one box with me I placed the queens of both species 

 together and upon returning to the laboratory a few minutes 

 later, dumped them all together in the same nest. After a few 



