1906.] Wheeler, Founding of Colonies by Queen Ants. 69 



scattered over the rolling country of Dakota and in Colorado to an alti- 

 tude of 1 1 ,300 feet near Leadville. They ranged from 8 inches to i^ ft. 

 in height and from 2 to 10 ft. in diameter at the base, and were 

 thickly covered or thatched with " bits of wood, fallen needles and 

 broken sprigs of pine." The center of each mound was occupied by 

 " a ball of twigs about eight inches in diameter; the sticks are longer 

 and thicker than those used upon the roof, some of them being two 

 and a half and three inches long. They were found unmixed with soil 

 or any other substance. Several galleries, about one-fourth of an inch 

 in diameter, led upward from this billet-globe to the surface, having 

 their outlet by circular openings through the thatch." "Beneath the 

 faggot ball a series of galleries, seven in number, extended downward 

 to at least the distance of four and a half feet, the extent of the ex- 

 cavation made by Dr. De Puy." McCook believes that this faggot 

 ball may serve as a " general nursery and common living barracks for 

 the family." His paper also contains observations on the swarming 

 of the ants, the destruction of their nests by prairie fires, their use 

 in ridding garments of vermin, etc. 



To any one acquainted with the magnificent adult colonies of F. 

 integra and our western forms of rufa it must seem improbable that the 

 queens of these species should start their families in the nests of some 

 other ant. I am convinced, nevertheless, that this is the case and 

 that F. suhsericea is the species commonly employed for this purpose. 

 The difficulties mentioned in the introduction to this paper have pre- 

 vented me from securing incipient colonies of F. suhsericea, so that I 

 have introduced my integra queens to small batches of workers taken 

 from larger colonies. Only five experiments were performed and in 

 only one of these was the female adopted. But this would certainly 

 be a very large proportion of success even among wild colonies. I 

 record all of the experiments because even the least successful of 

 them indicates that the female is inquilinous in her habits. 



Experiment 20. July 4, 8 a.m. A dealated female integra was placed in a 

 nest containing a dozen suhsericea workers. She was seized and pulled about 

 the nest by from one to three of them at a time during the entire day. July 5, 

 the same performance was continued. The female remained uninjured. She 

 never defended herself, but when the workers approached, crouched and made 

 rapid suppHcating movements with her antennae. July 6. During the morning 

 one of her hind tibiae was torn off. She finally escaped to the light chamber, 

 where she concealed herself under a lump of earth. July 7 she was still hiding 

 under the earth. In the afternoon she was removed from the nest. 



Experiment 21. July 14. At i.io p.m. a fine dealated integra female was 



