DEATH AND ITS DISGUISES. 427 



of various insectivorous animals. There is, therefore, abundant occasion 

 for the seemingly exhaustless fertility of the queen mothers of formicaries. 

 These queens probably have a longer life than the workers. They are 

 larger in size and apparently organized for more vigorous resistance of the 

 influences which work for their destruction. Moreover, the instinct of 

 the workers has provided a system of preservation by surrounding the 

 queen with a guard of attendants which never leave her vmprotected, which 

 care for all her wants, and vigilantly separate her, by a regular system of 

 seclusion within the i)ortals of the formicary, from many influences which 

 would prove hostile to health and fatal to life. 



How long the ant queen may live in an entirely natural habitat is un- 

 known, and perhaps cannot be determined. But recently, through the 

 patience and ingenuity of Sir John Lubbock, we have learned 

 ^^^- ^ that under artificial protection both workers and queens of certain 

 °° ^ species may attain a great age. Some eight years ago I had tlic 

 Queens privilege of visiting this distinguished naturalist at his country 

 seat. High Elms, Kent, and examining under his personal direction 

 his 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. On the last day of July, 1887, I again visited Sir John 

 at his house in London, and on inquiry after the aged queen, which I sup- 

 posed to be still alive, was informed that it had died the evening before, 

 having at the time reached the wonderful age of 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 a circle of the "courtiers" which, according to my pub- 

 lished observations, 1 are in the habit of watching continually upon ant 

 queens. Some of these attendants were licking the dead queen, or touching 

 her with their antemiEe, and making other demonstrations, as though solicit- 

 ing her attention or wishing to wake her out of sleeis. " 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 destinies of the colony, and seeking by their 

 caresses to evoke the attention which never again could respond to their 

 solicitations. 



In answer to a letter of inquiry concerning the life of this queen and 

 her companion, Sir John wrote me^ as follov/s: "As they had lived with 

 me since December, 1874, they must have been born in the spring of that 

 year. One of these queens, after ailing for some days, died on the 30th of 



' Honey and Occident Ants, Chapter IV., page 41, plate vi., Fig. 29. 

 2 Under date of May 10th, 1890. 



