50 THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



The credit for first discovering and recognizing the queens of this 

 species seems to belong to Mr. E. Baker, formerly superintendent of 

 Audubon Park, New Orleans, and Prof. R. E. Blouin, formeily in 

 charge of the Audubon Park Experiment Station. 



The rate at which the queen deposits eggs varies with the prevail- 

 ing temperature, and egg deposition is suspended entirely at low tem- 

 peratures. In the artificial formicaries, already described, the num- 

 ber of eggs laid each day varied from 1 or 2 to as many as 50 or 60. 

 Thirty per day is not far from the normal number in warm weather, 

 when the food supply is abundant. It appears probable, however, 

 that the queens deposit much more rapidly in large colonies, although 

 from the nature of the case this can not be verified by direct observa- 

 tion. Egg deposition becomes very slow, or ceases entirely, in the 

 artificial formicaries when the daily mean temperature falls below 

 68° F. 



Practically all queens under observation have shown a disposition 

 to suspend egg deposition entirely for longer or shorter periods, even 

 when the occurrence of such periods can not be accounted for by low 

 temperatures. 



Fertile queens confined in test tubes without accompanying 

 workers will often deposit a few eggs upon the walls of the tubes, but 

 we have been totally unable to get colonies established by confining 

 queens in artificial formicaries without workers accompanying them. 

 This failure has not been due to any need of workers to feed or care 

 for the queen, since she can feed herself from a supply of honey or 

 sugar as readily as can a worker. Ordinarily she attends to her own 

 toilet, and it is doubtful whether she is in reality "attended" by the 

 workers in the sense that queen bees are attended. 



Fertile queens do not confine themselves to the formicaries, either 

 natural or artificial. Isolated deiilated queens are not infrequently 

 found wandering about buildings by themselves, and while the queens 

 in artificial formicaries ordinarily stay within the nest proper, they 

 have at times been seen outside of it. The finding of dealated queens 

 wandering about, coupled with the fact that workers readily accept a 

 queen from any source, seems to indicate that new colonies may 

 sometimes be established in nature by workers associating with such 

 wandering queens. 



The length of life of the queen has never been determined, but 

 there is no doubt that it extends over several years. Observations 

 have been carried on with the same queen for considerably over a year. 



The number of queens that may be found in a colony varies from 

 one to several in the summer nests, and may reach into the hundreds 

 in the large winter colonies. Queens never show the least hostihty 

 to each other or to the workers. 



