1879.] on the Eahits of Ants. 183 



nmlcr observation since tlic year 1874, and tliey were at tliat time 

 probably at least a year old. They must, however, at any rate be 

 now at least five years old, and may be more. As regards workers, I 

 Lave also many belonging to several species which I have kept since 

 1875, and which must be at least four years (dd. 



But though they are thus long lived, and proved very healthy in 

 my nests, still sometimes, and especially with new nests, there was 

 a good deal of mortality among them. They generally come out of 

 the nest to die ; but if they are from any reason unable to do so, 

 their companions bring the corpses out of the nest and carry them 

 oif to some little distance. Nay, I have even found that they are 

 generally placed more or less together, so as to constitute a sort of 

 burial-ground. 



It is remarkable that notwithstanding the labours of so many 

 excellent observers, and though ants swarm in every field and every 

 wood, we did not till lately know how their nests commence. 



Three principal modes have been suggested : after the marriage 

 flight, the young queen may either — 



1. Join her own, or some other old nest ; 



2. Associate herself with a certain number of workers, and with 

 their assistance commence a new nest ; or 



3. Found a new nest by herself. 



As some nests continue to flourish for many years, the first case 

 must be frequent, though I am not aware that any observations with 

 reference to it are on record. Whether the other two occur, can, of 

 course, only be settled by observation, and the experiments made to 

 determine it have hitherto been indecisive. Blanchard, indeed, in his 

 work on the ' Metamorphoses of Insects ' (I quote from Dr. Duncan's 

 translation, p. 205), says, " Huber observed a solitary female go down 

 into a small underground hole, take ojff her own wings, and become, 

 as it were, a worker : then she constructed a small nest, laid a few 

 eggs, and brought up the larvae by acting as mother and nurse at the 

 same time." 



This, however, is not quite a correct version of what Huber says. 

 His words are : " I enclosed several females in a nest of light humid 

 earth, with which they constructed lodges, where they resided : some 

 singly, others in common. They laid their eggs and took great 

 care of them : and notwithstanding the inconvenience of not being 

 able to vary the temperature of their habitation, they reared some, 

 which became larvae of a tolerable size, but which soon perished 

 from the effects of my own negligence." 



It will be observed that it was the eggs — not the larvae — which, 

 according to Huber, these isolated females reared. It is true that he 

 attributes the early and uniform death of the larvae to his own negli- 

 gence ; but the fact remains, that in none of his observations did an 

 isolated female bring her offspring to maturity. Forel even thought 

 himself justified in concluding, from his own observations and those 

 of Ebrard, that such a fact could not occur. Lepeletier de St. Fargeau 



