145 
Some Experiments with Ants Nests. 
On .hily I4th Mr. Keys sent me up several different nests of 
rufibarhis \. fusco-rvfibarbis from Whitsand Bay, which contained 
many pupae. On August 10th I allowed two of these colonies, 
which I had placed in separate compartments of a combined Fielde 
and Jannet nest, to mix, by removing the obstruction in the passage 
between the two compartments. They were all quite friendly, and 
eventually collected all the pupae that were left (many ^ ^ had 
hatched from the others) in one side of the nest. 
Here ttvo colonies from different nests in the same 
locality combined at once when allowed to mix with each 
other. 
On May 9th I took 5 $ $ and a number of 5 from a nest of 
Fonnica-sangmnea at Woking. These I eventually put into a large 
bowl with sand, and a damp sponge. The ants burrowed into the 
sand under the sponge. On July 23rd I introduced many winged 
$ $ and ^ ^, some pupae and a few ^ 5 from a sangninea nest at 
Bewdley Forest. None of these were attacked ! On July 25th the 
Woking 9 $ were up under the sponge, and all the ants were 
together with the pupae. 
Here ants of the same species from quite a different 
locality mixed quite peaceably together. This is very 
strange; it may be that as the first colony were under the 
sand, and did not come up till tw'o days after the second 
lot of ants had been introduced, , the latter may have 
acquired the smell or nest aura. Also the first nest was not 
very strong as many of the ^ ^ had died. In any case I can 
only state what actually occurred. 
On April 21st I put a number of ^ 5 of Lasius flavus, which I 
had brought up from Whitsand Bay, into a glass bowl with sand. 
On May 6th I introduced two $ 5 flnvus from Bradgate Park, these 
were accepted by the § ^ on May 8th eggs were laid in a small 
chamber under a bit of damp sponge, and the 5 $ were attended by 
the 9 • A $ flavus from Portland was attacked and killed when 
introduced. The nest was eventually destroyed by mould. 
In this experiment $ ? of the same species were accepted 
by from a different locality in a nest without a 
On June 1st Mr. Forsyth sent me up from Portland a large nest 
of Lasius flavus, which contained 3 9? many ? ?, eggs and pupae, 
and some 50 Claviger foveolatus. I kept the main nest in a large glass 
bowl with sand, and put 2 of the ? ? and a dozen ? ? and 
TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1910. —PART II. (JUNE) L 
