92 



THURSDAY, August 8th, i i a.m. 



SECTION I.— EVOLUTION, BIONOMICS, AND MIMICRY. 



President : F. D. Morice. 

 Vice-President : W. M. Wheeler. 

 Secretary : K. G. Blair. 



The President called on Messrs. Crawley and Donisthorpe 

 to give their paper on : 



The Founding of Colonies by Queen Ants. 



In the introduction the authors gave a brief historical survey 

 of the subject from Gould in 1747 up to the present day, and 

 drew up a new table embracing all the known methods of colony- 

 founding under four main heads, the first being subsequently 

 treated under the title of " Normal Method," and the remaining 

 three under that of " Abnormal Methods." 



The Normal Method, colony-founding by a single unaided 

 female, or by two or more in conjunction, is the ancestral method 

 of all ants, and was shown to obtain among the majorit}' of species 

 to-day. The mother-ant feeds her offspring on the secretions of 

 her own body, and takes no food until the appearance of the 

 workers. This period of starvation is rendered possible b}' the 

 accumulation of body-fat by the female during her larval period, 

 and the absorption of her now useless wing-muscles. The most 

 highly-developed instance of this independent founding is the 

 female Atta or fungus-growing ant, who carries on her night from 

 the parent nest a supply of the fungus sufficient to start a garden 

 for her new colony. 



Under Abnormal Methods are included all cases where the 

 female, having lost the power of independent colony-founding, 

 is compelled to seek the aid of workers of another species in 

 bringing up her young. Such cases range from the dominant 

 group of temporary social parasites, through the facultative 



