53 



and been accepted. The queens of the L. mixtus had then died 

 and been killed, and the offspring of the L. fuliginosiis reared 

 by the L. mixtus workers. In course of time man\- of the latter 

 had died on, and the few found in the nests were the survivors 

 of the original L. mixtus colonies. Wasmann also agreed with 

 this view. 



Accordingly we determined to test this hypothesis by experi- 

 ments on captive colonies. In July 1910 a nest of L. fuliginosus 

 was dug up at Darenth Wood, containing a quantitx' of workers, 

 larvae, males and winged females, but no queen. The ants and 

 brood were divided into two equal portions and each established 

 in a Janet nest. 



During July all the males died, and most of the females, with 

 the e.xception of about twelve, which were found to be deälated. 

 As some of these latter subsequently laid eggs, which are now 

 nearh^ full-grown larvie, it is highl}- probable that mating had 

 taken place inside the nests. 



In the beginning of December a nest of L. umhratus without 

 a queen was obtained at Weybridge, and divided into two equal 

 portions, which were established in Janet nests. 



The first experiment was made on December loth, when 

 one of the deälated females of L. fuliginosus was placed in the 

 light chamber of one of the L. umhratus nesis. She immediately 

 entered the most crowded chamber. One worker saluted her, 

 and another dragged her further in by a mandible. Eventually, 

 however, she was attacked and killed b\- the evening. 



On December 13th another deälated female was put into a 

 small nest with a dozen workers from the same L. umhratus 

 nest as in the former experiment. She was slightly attacked, 

 but made no resistance, and endeavoured to conciliate her assail- 

 ants by stroking them with her antennie. Other workers were 

 added, and on December 20th she was jnit with the workers 

 into the L. umhratus nest. She was a little attacked, very 

 likely by the workers who had not seen her before, but very soon 

 all hostility ceased, and she was evidently accepted. Many 

 workers surrounded her, and caressed and fed her. All went 

 well till April, when, a number of the workers having died oft, 

 some 400 more were obtained from tlic \\\\bridge nest and 

 introduced. These newcomers attacked thf (pucn, though 



