380 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1880, 



antennae and open mandibles, as though on the watch for intruderSj 

 and then slowly return to the interior. 



September lYth, twenty-scA^en days after the discovery of this 

 formicary, I was again at Bellwood, and revisited it. The new 

 nest seemed to be deserted ; the ground around the gates seemed 

 to have been recently disturbed by a visitor, and no ants were 

 visible. The old nest, however, was abundantly peopled, and 

 numbers were found two and a half feet below the surface, from 

 which I was enabled to gather a large colony of slaves and workers 

 ofLucidus. The winged forms were gone. Mr. Edgar Kay, who 

 had assisted me in the excavations at the first visit, and had kept 

 an eye upon the nest, reported that a few days after my departure 

 (in the latter part of August), he had seen one male and several 

 females taking flight. They perched upon grasses, etc., and thence 

 flew eastward, at a height of forty or fifty feet, to the end of the 

 field, some 300 feet distant. It is probable that after this marriage 

 flight of the sexes, the workers returned to the old home. 



After these ants were colonized, I was able to observe several 

 facts, chiefly eonfirmator}- of those recorded b^' Huber, Forel and 

 others, of the European Polyergus. The masters never work: the 

 colony was changed several times in order to incite to new work 

 in mining galleries and rooms ; clusters of Lucidus were placed by 

 themselves ; alwa^^s they remained idle. The slaves wrought with 

 the greatest industry and energy as long as there was any need ; 

 the masters would crowd into the galleries, and move about in an 

 aimless way, but I never could trace any attempt either at direct- 

 ing or aiding in the work. So also I never saw one attempt to 

 eat. Sugar was fed freel}'^ and the slaves freely partook, until 

 the}" became gorged, and their abdomens grew transparent with 

 the pouched supph^ of liquid sweets. The masters strode over 

 the grains of sugar, and even when I had supposed that I had pre- 

 pared them with a good appetite b}^ previous fasting, they partook 

 of nothing. Yet tlie^- are in good condition, and evidently well 

 fed. They doubtless are fed b}' the workers who must disgorge 

 the food, as when feeding larvae, callows, males, females, and even 

 each other. I have, however, never yet seen the actual passing of 

 nutriment from one to another, although often observing Lucidus 

 and Schauffussi in the posture which is commonl^^ assumed 

 when this mode of conveying food is being practiced. 



In galleries and rooms the Lucidi hang upon the sides or to the 



