19 



of M. scabrinodis will amalgamate. Two colonies were sent 

 to DoNiSTHORPE from Miltown, co. Kerry, by Bottskell, in 

 October 1911. He arranged them in a four-chambered Janet 

 nest, so that each colony occupied two chambers at opposite 

 ends, the passage connecting them being plugged with cotton- 

 wool. One colony contained 5 females and workers, the other 

 2 females, workers and brood. 



On January 12th, 191 2, the cotton- wool barrier was removed, 

 and the two nests allowed access to each other. No fighting 

 was observed, but on March 2nd some females were dead. Later 

 the remaining females and all the workers occupied the two 

 dampest chambers in common, and at the present moment 

 the two colonies are on perfectly good terms, and in fact have 

 become one. 



It may be observed in passing that M. ruginodis, lœvinodis, 

 and scabrinodis will readily accept pupœ of their own species 

 from strange nests, and bring them to maturity, but scabrinodis, 

 at any rate, will not rear pupee of the other species. 



Members of the genus Myrmica sometimes found branch nests 

 similar to those of Formica ruja and Lasius fuliginosus. In x\pril 

 1900 at Oddington, near Oxford, Crawley noticed some workers 

 of Myrmica lœvinodis crossing a path in a shrubbery, carrying 

 larvae. The ants were traced, and found to be conveying larvie 

 from one nest in a rotten stump to another also in a stump. 

 The first stump was nearly covered with moss, which would 

 most likely account for the desertion. Further investigation 

 showed that the colony, which was of enormous size for this 

 species, occupied four nests, all but one of which were in rotten 

 stumps, and workers were continually crossing from one to 

 another. The space occupied by the nests was roughly 12 yds, 

 by 6 yds. Workers from each nest were placed on the others, 

 which they entered without molestation. 



FoKEL records the discovery of an isolated female of Lcpto- 

 thorax tubcrum by Kubli on December 14th, 1868, in an empty 

 gall with three small larvic. Forel kept this female with her 

 larvie until August 4th following, when she died, the last larv'a 

 having perished towards the end of April. Crawley found an 

 incipient colony of L. tubcrum, subsp. corticalis, in a more 

 advanced stage near Pangbourne, Berks, on April 24th, 1904. 



