370 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF [1887. 



artificial formicaries and the mode in which they are preserved. At 

 that time I saw a queen of the Fuscous ant, Formica fusca, which, 

 was nearly eight years old. During the past summer (1887) I again 

 visited Sir John at his house in London, and on inquiry after the 

 aged queen, which I supposed to be still living, was informed that 

 it had died the day before, having at the time reached the wonder- 

 ful age of more than thirteen years. I was permitted to see this 

 venerable queen as she lay in death on the floor of one of the wide 

 chambers which the workers had excavated in the soil compacted 

 between glass plates that bounded their formicary. She was still 

 attended by the circle of "courtiers," which, according to my pub- 

 lished observations,^ are in the habit of waiting continually upon 

 ant queens. Some of these attendants I saw licking the dead queen, 

 or touching her with their antennae and making other demonstrations 

 as though soliciting her attention or desiring to wake her out of sleep. 

 "They do not appear to have discovered that she is really dead," 

 remarked Sir John. And so indeed it seemed. It was certainly a 

 touching sight to witness these faithful attendants surrounding the 

 dead body of one who had so long presided over the maternal des- 

 tinies of the colony, and seeking by their caresses to evoke the at- 

 tention which never again could respond to their solicitations.^ 



Such experiments as the above clearly indicate that artificial en- 

 vironment may have a beneficial influence upon insects as well as 

 domestic animals, and that the interference of human intelligence 

 may be a preservative factor as well as a destructive one in the 

 lives of even our most lowly organized fellow creatures. 



While awaiting with great interest the details of the life history 

 of this venerable sovereign of the emmet world, which Sir John 

 Lubbock will doubtless publish, I venture to note the simple fact of 

 her prolonged life as an introduction to some facts in the same line 

 of observation, but relating to a spider. 



II. Long Life of a Spider. 



Early in the year 1872, I received from Dr. Joseph Leidy a spec- 

 imen of our common American species of the Theraphosoidse, first 

 described and known as Mygale Hentzii, and popularly called the 

 tarantula. This animal was given to Prof. Leidy by a young friend 

 and turned over to me with the request that at its death the specimen 



1 "Honey and Occident Anis" Chap, iv, p. 41 and PI. VI, fig. 29. 

 '* See note at end of paper. 



