12 



The above is valuable, not only as showing that fertile females 

 were received by strange workers of their own species, but 

 also because it is the first recorded instance of a number of 

 females after the marriage-flight voluntarily associating together 

 and laying eggs. 



P. HuBER (1810) carried experiments on fertile females a 

 stage further. He enclosed several fertilized females in a jar 

 full of damp earth, in which they excavated cells. They laid 

 eggs and brought up several fair-sized larvae, which, however, 

 perished owing to his own neglect. 



The first who actually demonstrated that females, after the 

 marriage-flight, are capable of bringing up their brood to ma- 

 turity unassisted, was Lord Avebury, in 1876, whose experiment 

 is referred to in the body of the paper. 



It was subsequently assumed that all species of ants founded 

 their colonies in this way. Modern researches have shown 

 that though this is true for the large majority of ants, many 

 species employ very different methods. 



Some writers have proposed elaborate classifications of all 

 the different methods of founding a colony, but space does not 

 permit us to discuss them here. 



The following table briefly shows all the known methods 

 in which a colony may arise : 



I. {a) The female ant, after the marriage-flight, removes 

 her wings, seeks a suitable situation, constructs a cell, and brings 

 up her colony alone. 



{b) Several such females may voluntarily associate and found 

 a colony in a similar manner. 



II. The female seeks a nest of another species of ant, is 

 adopted willingly or otherwise by the workers, who bring up 

 her brood. In some manner the host-queen, if present, is elimin- 

 ated. Then either (a) in course of time the host colony dies 

 out, and a pure colony of the female's species remains ; or (6) 

 the mixed character of the colony is kept up by means of slave- 

 raids on nests of the host species by the female's offspring. 



III. The female is adopted into a colony of another species 

 and lives side by side with the rightful queen. The intruder's 

 offspring of all sexes, but only workers of the host species, are 

 reared together in the nest. 



