600 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP [Sept., 



the inmates of the two nests continue to fight each other on meet- 

 ing, as they did when first taken from their natural nests. 



Kings. — The kings have the distinctive odor of their blood rela- 

 tions. — July, 1902, I isolated, each in a Petri cell, eight deiilated 

 queens, more than one year old, and representing two communities. 

 Into each of the cells I introduced, one at a time, several kings, 

 but a few days or few weeks old, and with no previous association 

 with any of these queens. In every case the queen was at once 

 friendly, and continued for many days to be friendly, with all 

 kings of her own colony, but was so hostile to kings of any alien 

 colony that she avoided or killed every alien king introduced. 

 She must have recognized colony odor in these kings. The kings 

 appear to be deficient in the sense of smell. They at times, espe- 

 cially in the light, and on warm days, become wildly amorous 

 upon contact of the head Avith a queen, a Avorker or another king, 

 regardless of the lineage of either. The kings are not clever, never 

 follow a trail, never take part in the care of the young, and are at 

 all times dependent. They can lap food for themselves; but I have 

 seen so many as three kings feeding at the same time from the 

 mouth of one worker, while other kings stood around as if waiting 

 their turn to be fed. 



Queens. — It may be said of the queens tliat while virgin they 

 manifest marked preference or dislike toward certain kings. 

 Having once mated they afterward permit no close approach of an 

 alien king. They condone the stupidity of kings of their own 

 lineage, and tolerate from them attentions to which no response is 

 conceded. 



It has been affirmed that workers remove the wings from fer- 

 tilized queens. That a queen may drop her wings without assist- 

 ance was shown by two living in my nests. Both were hatched on 

 August 5, 1902, from pupse taken by me from the natural nest on 

 ' August 3, and they both mated in captivity on August 22, when 

 seventeen days old, with kings a few days old, and of their own 

 colony. As soon as they had mated I again isolated each, and 

 each dropped her wings within a few days upon the floor of her 

 solitary cell. 



A queen may defer mating for a year at least, and then mate 

 with a king a year younger than herself, and may, later on, begin 

 the laying of eggs. Light and warmth appear to be required for 



