1906.] Wheeler, Founding of Colonies by Queen Ants. 71 



One matter that is clear from these experiments is the docile and 

 passive behavior of the female and its resemblance to the behavior of 

 F. consocians under similar conditions. Such behavior is certainly 

 significant in an ant like integra whose workers are so aggressively 

 pugnacious. The last experiment was probabh' more successful than 

 the others because it was performed with a very few small and timid 

 suhsericea workers, that is, with just such workers as the female in- 

 tegra probably selects in the wild state as nurses for her brood. The 

 experiment at least lends plausibility to the view that the female 

 integra, not withstanding her robust stature, is nevertheless, like 

 consocians , a temporary parasite. It should be possible to test the 

 truth of this statement by a careful examination of very small suh- 

 sericea nests in localities where F. integra abounds. 



5. Formica exsectoides Forel. 



The geographical range of F. exsectoides seems to be coextensive 

 with that of the true F. integra, and, like that subspecies, it has a variety 

 (ppaciventris Emery) in Colorado. The range, however, has not been 

 accurately determined except in the Eastern States, where it is known 

 to extend along the hills and mountains of the Appalachian system 

 from Maine to North Carolina. Although I have never been able to 

 find exsectoides in Illinois or eastern Wisconsin, Father Muckermann, 

 S. J., has taken it in the southwestern comer of the latter State in the 

 vicinity of Prairie du Chien. But Father Muckermann's account shows 

 that the Wisconsin form must be very distinct ethologically. He says 

 that its nests in his neighborhood "sometimes resemble heaps of dirt 

 dumped out at random. Besides they consist for the most part of 

 earth, although the latter is often mixed with vegetable remains. . . 

 The nest entrances are distributed without any apparent order. At 

 any rate, they are not located merely at the base and about the peri- 

 phery. . . Formica exsectoides is one of the ants most frequently met 

 with in this region, and often their colonies consist also of ten and more 

 nests." 1 Parts of this description differ greatly from McCook's 

 account of the nests of the Pennsylvania exsectoides, which are regular 

 conical mounds with their entrances arranged in rows around the base. 

 Their size must be much greater than that of the nests described by 

 Muckermann. But exsectoides exhibits still another variation in the 

 form of its nests. All of these structures which I have seen near the 



' The Structure of the Nests of Some North American Species of Formica. Psyche. June. 

 I9°2. P- 35 7- 



