640 Wheeler, Some Remarks on Temporary Social Parasitism. 



The inference that the slave-making ants are social parasites 

 which differ from F. consocians in keeping up a mixed condition 

 of the colony by kidnapping the young of the host species from 

 time to time, was an easy one to draw from my observations. It 

 was, in fact, at once drawn by several correspondents to whom 

 my paper on F. consocians was sent, among others by my friend 

 Prof. Emery of Bologna. As soon as I could satisfy myself of 

 the dubious nature of Blochmann's observation, I decided to 

 publish my views on the phylogenetic development of the slave- 

 making instincts in a separate paper. This was completed during 

 October, 1904, but owing to the printer's making a mistake in the 

 size of the Bulletin pages, which were enlarged for the twenty- 

 first volume, the article 1 ) was much delayed, ,and instead of ap- 

 pearing very early in January, did not leave the press till Feb. 14, 1905. 



Beginning with the number of the ,,Biologisches Centralblatt" 

 for Feb. 15 and ending May 1, 1905, Wasmann published the 

 article above cited 2 ). It contains views in surprisingly close accord 

 with those published by myself on temporary social parasitism and 

 the phylogeny of the dulotic instincts. The inferences on the 

 latter subject must have been reached by Wasmann independently, 

 because they appear in the very first installment of his paper pu- 

 blished Feb. 15, a day after the publication of my paper on the 

 same subject. But as any one familiar with the facts of temporary 

 social parasitism could have drawn these inferences, I am willing 

 Wasmann should have whatever credit he may claim for this inde- 

 pendent discovery if such it can be called - although in this 

 matter, as in that of temporary social parasitism, there can be no 

 question about the priority of publication. It was not ,,gleich- 



their pupal indusia, and immediately adopts them, thus quickly surrounding herself 

 with the means of nourishing both herself and her progeny as soon as the latter 

 are brought forth. The immediate result of these tactics is to produce a small 

 mixed colony consisting of a female of one species of Formica and a number of 

 workers of another, exactly as in the consocians-incerta colony, but with the interesting 

 and important difference that in this case the incerta workers are effete or mori- 

 bund, or, at any rate, older than the queen, whereas the subsericea workers in the 

 case of rubicunda are younger than the queen and have before them a "lease of life 

 amounting to three or four years. Moreover, the result in the case of rubicunda is 

 not achieved passively, by adoption of the queen, as in consocians, but actively, 

 by conquest and abduction. Of course, none of these differences is apparent from 

 mere inspection of an incipient mixed colony of consocians or rubicunda ; they can 

 be ascertained only through studying the behavior of the queen during the period 

 that elapses between the nuptial flight and the ctablishment of her colony. 



1) An Interpretation of the Slave-Making Instincts in Ants. Bull. Am. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., Vol. 21, Art. 1, pp. 1 10, Feb. 14, 1905. 



2) Das Ms. dieses Artikels lief am 14. Dez. 1904 in Erlangen ein und wurde 

 am 1C. Dez. der Druckerci iibergeben. Die Arbeit konnte aber, da Jiltere Manuskripto 

 vorlagen, erst vom Februar 11)05 ab erscheincn. Anmerkung der Rcdaktion. 



