AXT COMMUNITIES 



into the light chamber, while others fell upon the stranger 

 and began to tug at legs and antenme. The queen was 

 passive for a few minutes, then aroused herself, shook 

 off her assailants, and began to prance back and forth 

 in the chamber, pouncing on any worker within reach. 

 Having slain two of these in quick succession, she began 

 to collect cocoons and put them in a corner of the nest. 

 When eighteen had been assembled, she mounted the 

 pile and stood guard over it, with mandibles wide open 

 and threatening. 



Meanwhile the Subsericeas had hastened with the 

 remaining cocoons into the light chamber and plugged 

 up the door with earth-pellets. For two days matters 

 thus stood, Rubicunda perched upon her looted cocoons, 

 and the black workers keeping to their own apartment. 

 At night, however, there must have been a sally and 

 a combat; for early next morning (July 9th) the queen 

 was dead, and her captured cocoons were replaced with 

 the others. The victors' formic -acid batteries had 

 wrought their subtle aim, for their adversary's large 

 body was not mutilated. Death resulted from poison. 



Let us now mark a more successful experiment. Into 

 a colony made up of thirty-three Subsericeas, one hun- 

 dred and fifty cocoons, and a few larvae, a Rubicunda 



/ 



female was placed. The workers were thereby intensely 

 excited, and, seizing their cocoons, rushed into the light 

 chamber. Two who advanced to assault the stranger, 

 as a sort of "forlorn hope," were shaken off and one 

 slain. During this conflict other workers stole back into 

 the dark chamber to secure more cocoons, which were 

 stowed in the remotest corner of the light chamber. 

 Meanwhile the queen's excitement had much increased. 

 In the interval of four hours she had killed five more 



266 



