292 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



rufescens. A fertilized queen was introduced into a Janet nest 

 inhabited by a society of Formica fusca. The first step on the part of 

 the Polyerf/us queen was to kill the Formica queen. She then 

 succeeded in being accepted as queen. AVhen spring came the queen 

 laid eggs, which were brought up by the workers of F. fiisca. In 

 March 1910 the population of the 190S nest was reduced to three fusca 

 workers and the queen PoJijergus, so Emery united this nest with that 

 of 1900 in which the introduced queen PoJyergus had laid no eggs. 



The spring of 1910 saw the beginning of the army of Amazons. 

 These were at first treated by the fusca workers as if they were pets ; 

 they were not allowed to go abroad. In the beginning of summer 1911, 

 the Amazons were more numerous and insurgent, and Emery allowed 

 them to pass down an indiarul)ber tul)e into a new formicary. Thus 

 he had as a subject of study an army of Amazons which had never been 

 out of the nest nor made any expeditions. Experiment showed that 

 individuals and bands emerging in the vicinity of a colony of Formica 

 fusca gUharia proceeded without hesitation to take cocoons back to their 

 nest. The artificiallv started colonv was vigorous in 1912 and 1913 ; 

 the raids undertaken were usually to nests near at hand ; there was 

 sometimes considerable loss. One day, however, over a thousand cocoons 

 and young of F. fusca gleharia were brought in as prisoners. A 

 curious case of what looked like mutiny, or it might be madness, on the 

 part of the slaves was observed, and in connexion with it a deadly 

 quarrel between two Amazons. 



Among the 1914 observations was one relating to the vigorous 

 opposition which the slaves or auxiliaries sometimes make to the 

 Amazons' expeditions. Forel supposed that the slaves required each 

 year to get used to the occurrence of the Amazons' ways. Emery 

 suggests that the Amazons remain in some measure the pets of the 

 auxiliaries. The veteran observer also noticed a flitting from one nest 

 to another. On the first day the Amazons carried their slaves ; next 

 day the slaves transported the young and the Amazons did little. A 

 slave was seen dragging a resisting queen Amazon. Some of the 

 scouting expeditions of individual Amazons are of interest ; one of them 

 involved scaling a wall, and falling three times in doing so, yet the 

 explorer returned to the nest. 



The individual explorations are of importance because it seems that 

 they lead to the successful raids which have nests of other ants for 

 their objective. Many of the raids, however, lead to nothing, and 

 Emery thinks there is a periodic restlessness which leads to raids of a 

 tentative sort. , The author emphasizes the value of the artificial nest 

 in further investigation of the problems of ant-behaviour. 



Sense of Smell in Lepidoptera.* — Adele M. Fielde refers to the 

 well-known attraction of the female of the Great Peacock, Oak Egger, 

 and some other Lepidoptera for the male. The experiment of cutting 

 off the whole of the antenna is too rough ; what is needed is an 

 elimination of segment after segment in order to discover where the 

 particular sub-nose susceptible to the female's odour lies. 



* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ixvii. (1915) pp. 93-5. 



