1906.] Wheeler, Founding of Colonies by Queen Ants. 87 



Experiment 45. Aug. 7, 12 m. Into the nest used for the preceding ex- 

 periment and still containing 8 schaufussi workers, another Polyergus female 

 was introduced. At 6 p.m. she was still in excellent condition though she had 

 killed 3 of the workers. Aug. 8, 7 a.m. Another worker had been killed during 

 the night. The female seemed to have no inclination to associate with the 

 survivors and showed no interest in their brood, but rested quietly on the sponge. 

 Aug. 9, 7 A. M., she was resting near the workers and their brood and at first it 

 looked as though she might be adopted, but at 6 p.m. she was found dead. 



Experiment 46. Aug. 6, 9 a.m., a fine Polyergus female was placed in a 

 nest with 9 rather small schaufussi workers and about 100 cocoons. One of 

 the workers was a very young, another an older callow able to carry cocoons. 

 The female ran about the nest and was soon attacked by a worker, which she 

 promptly disabled by piercing one of its eyes and optic ganglia, so that it kept 

 turniiTg around in a counter-clockwise direction. Then she was attacked in 

 succession by 4 other workers. She killed one of these and maimed the three 

 others. Whenever one of them tweaked her legs, she ran her mandibles through 

 its head. Two of the three injured workers kept gyrating, one in a cloclcwise, 

 the other in a counter-clockwise direction, showing that in the former the left, 

 in the latter the right side of the head had been pierced by the female's man- 

 dibles. At 10 A. M. she was attacked by two workers, one of which she had pre- 

 viously wounded. This one she killed in the usual manner. Throughout the 

 day she showed neither interest in the brood nor fear of the schaufussi. By 

 noon there were only 3 uninjured workers in the nest and these kept attacking 

 the female from time to tim.e. During the greater part of the afternoon she 

 rested quietly on the sponge. Aug. 7. 6 a.m., she was resting on the cocoons 

 with the workers, of which only 4 survived uninjured. At 6 p. m. she was 

 dead. 



The above experiments show that the female Polyergus lucidus is 

 not adopted without, at least, considerable reluctance on the part of 

 the schauftissi workers, and that she manifests no interest in the brood 

 and is ready to kill the workers in self-defense. There is none of the 

 strange excitement and keen interest manifested by F. ruhicunda. It 

 seems certain that the female Polyergus would accept adoption if the 

 workers showed any disposition to confer it upon her, but they have 

 no such inclination. The two following experiments show very clearly 

 the female's lack of interest in the brood. 



Experiment 4y . Aug. 27, 11 a.m., a female Polyergus was placed in a nest 

 with 3 schaufussi workers of medium size and a number of worker cocoons. 

 She seized one of the workers at once and perforated its head. The worker 

 began to gyrate in a counter-cloclcwise direction, but still endeavored to carry 

 a cocoon to a place of safety. The female soon injured another aggressive 

 worker, that nevertheless kept returning again and again to the attack. This 

 worker died at 12 m., and the single remaining one had lost an antenna and was 

 staggering along with a cocoon. By 6 P. m. this worker had also been killed 

 and the female was resting quietly on the moist sponge. During this and the 

 two following days she paid no attention whatever to the cocoons which were 

 scattered about the nest. At 6 p.m., Aug. 29, she was returned to the parent 

 nest and the experiment was concluded. 



