Wheeler, Some Remarks on Temporary Social Parasitism. 639 



arrived at the conclusion that a number of these which have been 

 known for years as ,,abnormal" or accidental" consociations of 

 two species, were in all probability merely cases of temporary 

 parasitism, and I predicted that the various Formicfc of the riifa 

 group on both continents (F. rufa, pratensis, truncicola, exsecta, 

 exsectoides, pressilabris, etc.) would be found'to establish their colonies 

 in the same way as F. consocians, namely, with the aid of workers 

 of another Fonuica, presumably F. fused or some one of its varieties. 

 These views were first published Oct. 1, 1904, as a brief prelimi- 

 nary note in the Journal of the American Museum of Natural 

 History and some days later in more detailed form in the Bulletin 

 of the same institution 1 ). 



While writing these papers I could hardly fail to see that 

 young colonies of F. sanyuiuca and Polycryus rufescens, our typical 

 slave-making ants, must also conform to the earlier colonial con- 

 ditions of temporary social parasites like F. c.oiisorians, but I was 

 much hindered in developing my ideas by a statement in one of 

 Wasmann's earlier works 2 ) where he says: ,,Eine befruchtete 

 Konigin von Formica sanguined kann allein , ohne Mitwirkung 

 eigener oder fremder Arbeiterinnen, eine neue Kolonie griinden." 

 In support of this assertion he cites observations by Blochmann, 

 long known to me as a conscientious worker. When I looked up the 

 pertinent passage, however, I found that Wasmann had overstated 

 a possibly inaccurate and certainly inadequately recorded observation 3 ). 



1) A New Type of Social Parasitism among Ants. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 Vol. 20, Art. 30. Oct. 11, 1904, pp. 347375. 



2) Die zusammengesetzten Nester und gemischten Kolonien der Ameisen. 

 Minister, Aschendorff'sche Buchdruckerei, 1891, p. 201. 



3) Wasmann makes no allusion to this matter in his latest paper. He 

 says, however, that he has been unable, during the more than twenty years he has 

 been studying F. sanguined under what appear to be exceptionally favorable circum- 

 stances, to find a female of this species in the act of establishing her formicary, 

 either alone or with the aid of F. fusca workers. Like myself he now accepts the 

 latter alternative as the more probable, so I am led to believe that he would en- 

 dorse my interpretation of Blochmann's observations. 



A number of experiments on artificial colonies of F. sanguined subsp. rubi- 

 cunda Emery, performed during the past July, have given me an insight into the 

 method in all probability adopted by this insect while founding its colonies under 

 natural conditions. A detailed account of these experiments will be published in 

 the near future, but the results may be here briefly stated. When a dealated 

 female rubicunda is confined in an artificial nest with as many as twenty workers 

 of F. fusca var. subsericea and their brood, she is received with great hostility. 

 At first her conduct is patient and insinuating, or even somewhat timid, but the 

 persistent pulling and tweaking to which she is subjected by the workers, soon 

 throws her into a frenzy of rage. She falls upon her tormentors, drives them from 

 their brood and, when they persevere in returning, kills them one by one. With 

 feverish haste she then appropriates the brood, secretes it in some corner and care- 

 fully guards it, ever on the alert with open mandibles to attack any intruder, till 

 the pupaa are ready to hatch. She deftly frees the pale drab callows from 



