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IV. Some Eo:periments with Ants' Nests. By Horace St. 
J. K. Donisthorpe, F.Z.S. 
[Read December 1st, 1909.] 
A COLONY of ants may be founded in several ways— 
(1) The most simple and ordinary method is that in 
which the queen ant, after her marriage flight, starts the 
colony herself. She relieves herself of her wings, either 
by brushing them off with her feet, or, as I have sometimes 
seen myself, by grasping them with her jaws, and removing 
them with a jerk. Selecting a suitable spot, she digs a 
small chamber in the ground or under a stone, and laying 
her egffs she tends them till the first batch of workers are 
hatched. 
(2) The female, again, may obtain admission into a 
small queenless colony of a different species, and there 
bring up her offspring. When the host species has died 
out, there will remain a pure colony of the queen species. 
This has been called “ Temporary Social Parasitism.” 
(3) The queen may also enter a small colony of another 
species, and killing the workers, take possession of the 
pupae. When these have hatched and have helped her 
to bring up her own brood, the mixed character of the 
nest is kept up by raids on the host species, which is 
commonly known as “ slavery ” in ants. 
(4) A female may obtain admission into the nest of 
anotlier species, and there permanently reside with 
her offspring, this has been called “ Permanent Social 
Parasitism.” 
Now, as is well known, ants, as a rule, strongly object 
to the intrusion of strange ants, either of their own or of 
another species. Touch and smell are the two principal 
senses in ants, and the antennae are the chief organs in 
which they chiefly reside. Forel says the members of a 
colony know each other by smell and contact. Wasmann 
has called their antennae “ touching noses,” and says they 
do not know each other personally, but recognise each 
other by an intelligent “ parole,” a recognised form of 
antennae stroke. Miss A. W. Fielde has carried out a 
TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1910.— PART II. (JUNE) 
