144' j\Ir. T^St. J. K. Doiiisthorpo on 
following from one of my note-books—“May lOtli, 1907. 
Took part of a nest of F. rufa at Weybridge then later 
on, “April 7tb, 1908. Got some more ddhris from the 
same nest at Weybridge, 4^$, ^ etc.; ants all well 
received.” This is the rufa nest I have still, which is 
doing very well. 
Mr. Keys, of Plymouth, when starting some observation 
nests of Formica rufibarlis v. fusco-rujibarhis from Whit- 
sand Bay, told me that he mixed ^ ^ and ^ ^ from different 
nests in that locality, and that they agreed perfectly well 
together. These facts look as if the “recognition method” 
is inherited in a common stock, and also appear to 
disagree with the theory of the progressive odour of ants. 
In the “Ent. Mo. Mag.” for April and May 1909, Mr. 
Crawley publishes some experiments with Lasius species, 
ants which found their colonies in the simple or primitive 
method. He records cases where queens of Lasius 
umbratus were accepted by colonies of L. nigcr. 
On May 17th, 1907, I obtained and fixed up in a large glass bowl, 
a nest of Formica sanguinea from Woking, which contained very 
few slaves, and all the ^ ^ were of a small type. (The nest con¬ 
tained over 60 specimens of Lomechusa strumusa, wliich may account 
for the small size of the ^ 5 ? though no pseudogynes had yet been 
produced.) Large sangninea ^ ? taken from a nest at Woking, 
tpiite near to this one, were all dragged about and killed when 
introduced into this observation nest. 
lu this case workers of the same species from another 
nest in the same locality were attacked and killed. 
On April 17th, 1909, I took a small nest of Formica rufibarbis v. 
fusco-rufibarbis at Whitsand Bay. It contained a $ and about 25 
^ 5, and I put them into a small plaster nest on April 22nd. No 
eggs were ever laid by this $ . On June 1st I removed some of the 
9 ^ and introduced them into a small bowl which contained sand 
and a 9 of A’, fusca taken at Bradgate Park on May 3rd, 1909. 
This queen had laid a few eggs in a small chamber underneath a 
piece of damp sponge. On June 27th, I introduced the rest of the 
rujibarbis v. fusco-rufibarbis 9 9 • The queen was not attacked, and 
on July 4th all the 9 9 collected under the sponge with 
the queen. On August 3rd I liberated them all at Eyde in the 
Isle of Wight. 
Ill this experiment a fusca 9 was adopted by workers of 
a dilferent race from a different locality. 
