1906.] Wheeler, Founding of Colonies by Queen Ants. 39 



Edward Potts to show that young females of Camponotus pennsyl- 

 vanicus "when fertilized, go solitary, and after dispossessing them- 

 selves of their wings, begin the work of founding a new family. This 

 work they carry on until enough workers are reared to attend to the 

 active duties of the formicary, as tending and feeding the young, en- 

 larging the domicile, etc. After that, the queens generally limit their 

 duty to the laying of eggs," etc. 



To any one who has given even a little attention to the insect life 

 of our northern woods, it seems strange that the founding of colonies 

 by this ant should not have been recorded till 1883. Certainly no 

 observation could be more easily made, for in many localities it is 

 hardly possible to tear a strip of bark from an old log without finding 

 one or more females of C. pennsylvanicus or of the allied varieties 

 ferrugineus and novceboracensis , each in her little cell brooding over a 

 few eggs, larvae, cocoons, or minim workers. Usually the cell is care- 

 fully excavated just under the loose bark in the decayed wood, but 

 where pine logs are abundant these females often prefer to take posses- 

 sion of the deserted pupal cavities of a longicorn beetle (Rhagium 

 lineatum Oliv.). These cavities are surrounded by a regular wall of 

 wood fibers arranged like the twigs in a bird's nest (PI. VIII, Fig. i). 



Within more recent years the observations of Lincecum, Lubbock, 

 McCook, and Potts have been repeatedly confirmed by continental 

 authors. Blochmann,^ Forel,^ Janet, ^ von Buttel - Reepen,-* and 

 Emery^ have all published interesting notes on colony formation by 

 isolated females of ants belonging to the common genera Myrmica, 

 Crcmastogaster, Formica, Lasius, and Camponotus. 



On more than one occasion during the past six years I have myself 

 been able, both in the field and in the laboratory, to test the truth of 

 these observations. In fact, a catalogue of the North American spe- 

 cies, in which I have seen evidence of the founding of colonies by 

 isolated females, would comprise nearly all of our common ants. I 

 have observed it in members of all the subfamilies except the Dory- 

 linae. Even the Ponerinae, which I at one time supposed to be an ex- 

 ception, conform to the general rule, for I have found isolated female 

 of Odontomachus clarus and hcematodes in the act of establishing their 



' Ueber die Griindung neuer Nester bei Camponotus ligniperdus Latr. und anderen einhei- 

 mischen Ameisen. Zeitschr, f. wiss. Zool., Bd. XLI. 1885, pp. 719-727. 



2 Origine d'une Fourrnilere de Camponotus ligniperdtis Latr. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., XLVI, 

 igo2, pp. 180-182, and Suite de I'Histoire de mon Camponotus ligniperduso. Ibid., XLVI, J902, 

 pp. 294-296. 



■5 Observation sur les Fourmis. Limoges, 1904, 68 pp. 7 pL; and Etudes sur les Fourmis, 

 Troisieme Note. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, Vol. XVIH, 1893, pp. 168-171. 



* Sociologisches und Biologisches vom Ameisen- und Bienenstaat. Wie entsteht eine Ameisen 

 kolonie? Arch. f. Rassen u. Gesell. Biol., 2 Jahrg,, i. Heft, Jan. u. Feb., 1905. 



5 Sur rorigine des fourmiliferes. Compt. Rend. 6me Congres intern, de Zoologie, Session de 

 Berne, 1904, May 25, 1905, pp. 459-461. 



