660 



the family Harpacticidae. The material from the various islands shows con- 

 siderable identity of species obtained but their numbers vary greatly in the 

 different islands. 



l^*'Dec., 1887. — There was exhibited for Mr. O. Fraser of Calcutta a spe- 

 cimen of a supposed weather w^orn seed of a palm, picked up on the Madras 

 Coast. Opinions given referred it to the consolidated roe of a fish, doubts being 

 thrown on its vegetable nature., — Sir John Lubbock read a paper in conti- 

 nuation of his previous memoirs, on ,,The Habits of Ants, Bees, and Wasps". 

 He said that it was generally stated that our English slave-making ant [Formica 

 sanguinea) , far from being entirely dependent on their slaves, as was the case 

 with Pulyergus rufescens, the slave-making ant ,,par excellence", was really 

 able to live alone, and that the slaves were only, so to say, a luxury. Some 

 of his observations appeared to throw doubt on this. In one of his nests the 

 ants were prevented from making any fresh capture of slaves. Under these 

 circumstances, the number of slaves gradually diminished, and at length the 

 last died. At that time there were some 50 of the mistresses still remaining. 

 These, however, rapidly died oif, until at the end of June, 1886, there were 

 only six remaining. He then placed near the door of the nest some pupae of 

 Formica fuseau the slave ant. These were at once carried in, and soon came 

 to maturity. The mortality among the mistresses at once ceased, and from 

 that day to this only two more have died. This seems to show that the slaves 

 perform some indispensable function in the nest, though what that is still 

 remains to be discovered. As regards the longevity of ants, he mentioned 

 that the old queen ant, which had more than once been mentioned to the 

 Society, was still alive. She must now be fourteen years old, and still laid 

 fertile eggs ; to the important physiological bearing of which fact he called 

 special attention. He discussed the observations and remarks of Grab er as 

 regards the senses of ants, with special reference to their sensibility towards 

 the ultra violet rays, and referred to the observations of Forel, which «on- 

 firmed those he had previously laid before the Society. Professor Grab er 

 had also questioned some of his experiments with reference to smell. He, 

 however, maintained the accuracy of his observations, and pointed out that 

 Graber had overlooked some of the precautions which he had taken; his 

 experiments seemed to leave no doubt as to the existence of a delicate sense 

 of smell among ants. As regards the recognition of friends, he repeated some 

 previous experiments with the same results. He took some pupse from one 

 of his nests (A) and placed these under charge of some ants from another 

 nest (B) of the same species. After they had come to maturity he placed some 

 in nest A and some in nest B. Those placed in their own nest were received 

 amicably, those in the nests of their nurses were attacked and driven out. 

 This showed that the recognition is not by the means of a sign or password, 

 for in that case they would have been recognised in nest B and not in nest A. 

 Dr. Wassmann had confirmed his observations in opposition to the state- 

 ment of Lespès, that white ants are enemies to those of another nest, even 

 belonging to the same species; the domestic animals, on the other hand, can 

 be transferred from one nest to another, and will be amicably received. In 

 conclusion, he discussed the respective functions of the eyes and ocelli, and 

 referred to several other observations on various interesting points in the 

 economy of the Social Hymenoptera. — J. M urie. 



Druck von Breitkopf & Härte! in Leipzig. 



