Don MR J. G. GOODCHILD ON 
ant and her daughters in regard to everything that 
concerns the well-being of the colony of which they are 
members. 
The queen ant, as before stated, is the mother of all the 
workers. How the male ants or drones arise is yet a 
doubtful matter. Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) states 
that in his formicaria the worker ants occasionally laid eggs. 
These were fertile, and they invariably gave rise to male 
ants. This is another one of several most remarkable facts 
connected with ants. Lord Avebury does not state whether 
he considered that all male ants have originated in this 
way. I venture to think that perhaps it may some day be 
proved that they have. Similar cases are not unknown in 
other departments of the animal kingdom, but the subject 
cannot well be discussed here. 
Some reference has been made here to the warlike 
propensities of certain ants. Probably these arose, in the 
first instance, from a development of the action that the 
inhabitants of a formicary have been compelled to take in 
their own defence when attacked by other animals—-it may, 
of course, be one more manifestation of their natural restless 
and energetic disposition. However that may be, ants in 
general are given, now and then, to raiding each other's nests 
and carrying off some of the contents—the young ones 
amongst others. Probably, in the earlier cases, the intention 
has been to take these hapless babes home to eat; but, 
however that may have been at first, it has now and then 
happened that the young ones carried into captivity for this 
purpose have been suffered to live and grow up amongst 
their captors, just as our savage ancestors took the young of 
wild beasts home and suffered them to remain as pets. No 
one is allowed to be idle in an ants’ nest. If aliens, old or 
young, are to remain there, they must do something for their 
board and lodging like the rest of the colony. So these 
captives have, as they have grown up, had to join in the 
daily round and common task along with the rest, and they 
have had to obey all the rules and regulations to which their 
captors conform, thus becoming alike forgetful of self, and 
