868 RECORD OP CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Btraiglitoned the original curved row of spots to a straight bar, is 

 strikingly shown by the two foremost sijots of the row, which are 

 imsymmetrical with regard to the corresponding row on the front 

 wings, and which really form the commencement of a curved bar — 

 hut these are hidden by the overlapping of the front wings." It is 

 supposed that the critical eye was the eye of the male. 



Adoption of an Ant-queen.*— The Eev. H. C. McCook reports 

 the following case of the adoption of a fertile queen of Crematogaster 

 lineolata, a small black ant, by a colony of the same species. The 

 queen was taken on April 16th, and on May 14th was introduced to 

 workers of a nest taken the same day. The queen was alone within 

 an artificial glass formicary, and several workers were introduced. 

 One of these soon found the queen, exhibited much excitement, but no 

 hostility, and immediately ran to her sister workers, all of whom were 

 presently clustered upon the queen. As other workers were gradually 

 introduced they joined their comrades until the body of the queen 

 (who is much larger than the workers) was nearly covered with them. 

 They appeared to be holding on by their mandibles to the delicate 

 hairs upon the female's body, and continually moved their antennfe 

 caressingly. This sort of attention continued until the queen, es- 

 corted by workers, disappeared in one of the galleries. She was 

 entirely adopted, and thereafter was often seen moving freely, or 

 attended by guards, about the nest, at times engaged in attending 

 the larvfe and nymphs which had been introduced with the workers 

 of the strange colony. The workers were fresh from their own na- 

 tural home, and the queen had been in an artificial home for a month. 

 As among ants the workers of different nests are usually hostile to 

 each other, this adoption of an alien queen is an example of the strong 

 instinct which controls for preservation of the species. 



Mode of depositing Ant-eggs. f — Mr. McCook also states that a 

 queen of the black carpenter ant, Camponotus Pennsylvanicus, which 

 had long been kept in an artificial nest, had once been seen in the act 

 of depositing an egg. The queen was at the time clinging to the side 

 of a hollow in the surface of the earth, almost in a vertical position. 

 The usual body-guard of workers quite surrounded her, continually 

 touching her with their antennae. The egg was a white cylindrical 

 object, about one-eighth of an inch in length. It was about two 

 minutes in escaping from the body, and as soon as dropped was carried 

 below within the galleries by a worker. The queen was never left by 

 her body-guard, who sought to control her movements by pressing 

 around her, blocking up the path which she wished to take. Frequently 

 more vigorous persuasions were used, an antenna or leg being grasped 

 by a worker, and the queen thus pulled backward. She made no 

 attacks upon her guard, but often stubbornly held her own way ; 

 though commonly yielding more or less graciously to her attendants. 

 This colony had been received from the Allegheny Mountains in 

 December, within their formicary in an oak bough, in which they 

 were hibernating, being quite stiff with cold. They immediately re- 

 vived in the warmth, and were healthy and active during the following 

 * 'Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad.,' 1879, p. 137. t Il^id., p. 140. 



