THE MARRIAGE-FLIGHT OF A BULL-DOG ANT 73 



(probably sanguined or pyriformis), early in April in South 

 Australia, as "rather a formidable affair, owing to many hun- 

 dreds of the large creatures (the female above an inch in length 

 while alive) flitting about one's head, all armed with a sting 

 about a quarter of an inch in length, while the shrubs near the 

 nest were covered with scores of pairs and single ones." 



The observations of Tepper and Froggatt prove conclusively 

 that the species of the Ponerine genus Myrmecia celebrate a 

 regular marriage flight like all the ants of the other taxonomic 

 subfamilies, except the species with wingless males or females, 

 and that these flights occur during January in northern New 

 South Wales or a few months later in the more southern and 

 colder portions of Australia. This season corresponds, of course, 

 to our autumn months, which are likewise the nuptial season 

 of some of our species of Lasius (L. claviger Roger, brevicornis 

 Emery, etc.) We may also infer from the accounts of the two 

 Australian observers that each female Myrmecia, after fecunda- 

 tion, loses her wings in the same manner as other ants, except 

 certain parasitic species, enters the ground and establishes a 

 small colony without the assistance of workers of her own 

 species. I am able to show that this is actually the case. On 

 September 19, 1914, I found under a stone in one of the deep 

 sandstone canyons near Katoomba, in the Blue Mts. of New 

 South Wales, a fine dealated female of Myrmecia tricolor Mayr 

 occupying a little cavity in the soil and engaged in caring 

 for about a dozen small larvae. This little incipient colony 

 was very similar to those just established by our common car- 

 penter ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus DeGeer and novebora- 

 censis Fitch) under the bark of old logs. That the most primi- 

 tive of existing ants should found their colonies in precisely 

 the same manner as the most highly specialized species, is not 

 without interest. 



