1907.] Wheeler, The Polymorphism of Ants. 69 



three sharply differentiated castes. On hatching the queen Melipona has 

 very small ovaries with immature eggs, but in the allied genus Trigona, 

 the species of which differ from the MeUponce in constructing large queen 

 cells and in storing them with a greater quantity of honey and pollen, the 

 queen hatches with her ovaries full of ripe eggs. These facts indicate that 

 the large size of the queen cell and its greater store of provisions are merely 

 adaptations for accelerating the development of the ovaries. Now on 

 reverting to the honey-bee Ave may adopt a similar explanation for the feed- 

 ing of the queen larva with a special secretion like the "royal jelly." As is 

 well known, the queen honey-bee hatches in about sixteen days from the 

 time the egg is laid, while the worker, though a smaller insect and possessing 

 imperfect ovaries, requires four or five days longer to complete her develop- 

 ment. That the special feeding of the queen larva is merely an adaptation 

 for accelerating the development of the ovaries is also indicated by the fact 

 that this insect is able to lay within ten days from the date of hatching.^ 

 If this interpretation is correct the qualitative feeding of the queen larva 

 is not primarily a morphogenic but a growth stimulus. 



5. The grossly mechanical withdrawal of food substances already 

 assimilated by the larva, as in the case of the Pheidok insiabilis parasitized 

 by the Orasema described in the first part of this article, produces changes 

 of the same kintl as those which distinguish the worker ant from the queen, 

 i. e., microcephaly, microphthalmv, stenonoty, and aptery. This case is 

 of unusual interest because the semipupa, after the detachment of the para- 

 site, seems to undergo a kind of regeneration and produces a small but 

 harmonious whole out of the depleted formative substances at its disposal. 

 What is certainly a female or soldier semipupa takes on worker characters 

 while the worker semipupa may be said to become infra-ergatoid as the 

 result of the sudden loss of formative substances. These observations 

 clearly indicate that the normal worker traits may be the result of starvation 

 or withholding of food rather than the administration of a particular diet. 



6. The pseudogynes of Formica admit of a similar interpretation if 

 it be true, as I have maintained (p. 33) that they arise from starved female 

 larvae. Here, too, the organism undergoes a kind of regeneration or regu- 

 lation and assumes the worker aspect owing to a dearth of sufficient forma- 

 tive substances with which to complete the development as originally planned. 



'Cheshire (Bees and Bee-keeping. Scientific and Practical, 2 vols.) gives a different in- 

 terpretation of the rapid growth of tlie (jueens. On p. 244, Vol. I, he regards the acceleration 

 as the result of selection, since the first queen to hatch destroys her iinhatclied sisters. Hence 

 the more rapidly the insect develops the greater her chances of survival. In another place (Vol. 

 II, pp. 320, 321), however, lie regards this individual advantage as a social disadvantage, since 

 the toleration of .several queens would greatly increase the ninnl)er of workers and thereby 

 strengthen the colony. My view refers not .so'mvich to the acceleration of the development of 

 the queen as to that of her ovaries. It is evident that this, too, may be expressed in terms of 

 advantage to the colony, since it enables the queen to lay very soon after tlie marriage flight. 



