THE AMAZONS. 



4S5 



famished creature for several minutes, then go to the food chamber, 

 take a draught of honey, return and feed a number of them in succes- 

 sion. For an hour she thus moved back and forth between the 

 amazons and the honey till all had been fed. At 8 A. M. on the follow- 

 ing morning the amazons were huddled together on the sponge, as if 

 asleep, and in their midst was the nitidiventris, C, also resting peace- 

 fully. The sitbscricca, C', still alive but distrustful, was lurking in the 

 furthest corner. I tapped the nest gently to arouse its inmates. C 

 immediately ran into the food chamber, imbibed a lot of honey, returned 

 and began to feed the lucidus, like a solicitous mother who wakens 

 early and sets about getting breakfast for a large family. The friendly 

 relations between C and the amazons continued throughout the day. 

 Early the following morning C' was found dead in a corner and C was 

 ministering to the amazons. Before noon, however, I found her lan- 







, 



FIG. 272. Queen of Polyergus nifesccns and her incipient colony of Formica fnsca 

 workers. (Photograph by Prof. C. Emery.) 



guidly dragging her body about the food chamber. Her head had 

 been pierced by one of the stupid and ungrateful lucidus. She died 

 in a few hours. 



At 3 P. M. twenty large snbscricca workers, with a number of larvae 

 and pupae, were placed in the light chamber. The sixteen amazons 

 entered the chamber and began to attack the black intruders in a per- 

 fect frenzy of valor. To my surprise the subsericea stood their ground, 

 took the offensive and were soon driving the amazons around the nest 

 like a herd of sheep. They seized the lucidus by the legs and antennae, 



