BEHAVIOR OF ANTS AND MYRMECOPH1LES 405 



and "threw the threads" of web at it. Four or five ants were 

 entangled together and carried off. The mite Laelaps cuneifer 

 Mich, was observed to follow the "tracks" of the host ant 

 when it went from one nest compartment to another. 



Donisthorpe (15) records observations on the behavior of cer- 

 tain ants that are temporary social parasites. Experiments were 

 made with Formica sanguinea Latr., the only English slave-making 

 ant, and its host, Formica fusca. "Workers and pupae were 

 placed in one compartment of a "Crawley" .nest, and two 

 females of sanguinea in another. As soon as the latter became 

 aware of the presence of the fusca cocoons, "they hurried in, 

 attacked and killed the fusca workers and carried the cocoons 

 to their own compartment." The adults from fusca cocoons 

 which were placed in the nest, were assisted in emerging by 

 the sanguinea queen. 



To prove that sanguinea females are unable to found colonies 

 by themselves, Donisthorpe placed several in bowls. They 

 hid beneath pieces of sponges, but made no attempt to dig 

 cells. A few eggs were laid, but neglected, and therefore 

 did not hatch, thus corroborating other experiments and seem- 

 ing to indicate positively that sanguinea depends absolutely 

 upon a temporary host to found a colony. 



Emerton (18) states that the spider Phrurolithus formica 

 Banks is found only in the nests of Cremastogaster lineolata. 

 In the spring, when the ants are gathered under stones over 

 their burrows, the spiders are found among them. If not fright- 

 ened, they move about slowly, like the ants, but when fright- 

 ened are much more active, and run either into the ant burrows 

 or into the grass about the nest. 



Emery (20, 21) studied the mating and colony-founding 

 habits of Polyergus. There is no doubt that marriage-flights 

 occur frequently with Polyergus, but copulation may also take 

 place in the nest. Queens, both dealated and winged, have been 

 frequently observed in company with raiding-columns. In one 

 colony observed by Emery for two years, the marriage-flights 

 occurred the second year, but not during the first. The first 

 year, queens were found with raiding-armies. Of these Emery 

 sent, one dealated specimen to Silvestri, who found the recep- 

 taculum seminis full of sperm. A winged female taken at the 

 same time was not fertilized. No queens weie found in the 



