14 



Normal Method. 

 Subfamily Ponerinae. 



Very little seems to have been observed with regard to colony- 

 founding by members of this subfamily. Wheeler, however, 

 records finding isolated females of Odontomachus clarus and 

 hœmatodes in the act of establishing their formicaries. 



Ponera coarctata is often found in the nests of other ants, 

 but according to Wasmann it has no strict connection with 

 them. 



Janson and Shepperd both found it in nests of Lasius 

 fuliginosus, at Highgate, many years ago. W. E. Sharp took 

 it in a nest of L. ftavus at Stoat's Nest recently. Donisthorpe 

 found workers in a nest of Formica fusca at Doddington in Kent, 

 1902, and on September 27th, 1910, took five winged females 

 and a few workers in a nest of L. fuliginosus at Darenth Wood. 

 In May 1912 he found a number of workers in a nest of Formica 

 fusca at Box Hill. These workers were transferred to two observa- 

 tion nests of F. fusca, where they lived for more than two months. 

 They were almost unnoticed by the fusca workers, but always 

 crouched down and remained motionless whenever any of the 

 latter touched them. It is possible that females of Ponera 

 coarctata may found their small colonies in or near the nests 

 of other species for the sake of the food and shelter they may 

 obtain. 



Subfamily Myrmicinœ. 



It is highly probable that the lethargic ant Myrmecina 

 graminicola founds its colonies in the normal way, though very 

 little is known on the subject. Crawley found a deälated female 

 wandering on the flagstones in front of his house near Oxford 

 in August 1897. 



A worker was found near the same place a few days later, 

 indicating the presence of a nest, so it is likely that the solitary 

 female was one of those that had left their nest, and after the 

 marriage-ñight was seeking a suitable place to establish her 

 family. 



Donisthorpe has in his possession an interesting colony 



