30 
first spring and by Pricer's observations concerning the carpenter-ant, 
from which he conckides that winged males and females do not appear 
in the colony until it is more than two years old. Some support for 
this conclusion as applying to our corn-field ant will presently be given. 
We can not follow the history of the colony farther at this time, lack- 
ing detailed knowledge of the rate of its increase and the form of its 
organization. We only know that family groups enlarge to contain 
several hundred workers, and larvae sometimes by the thousand, with 
pupae, males, and queens in much smaller numbers. 
Size of Colonies 
The following table shows the number of ants of all stages con- 
tained in 20 nests dug out in an oats field by Mr. Kelly August 28, 
1906. The fact that the larger numbers are all multiples of 10 or 5 
shows that these counts are not to be regarded as exact. 
Ants in twenty Nests, in Oats Field, August 28, 1906 
1 
Workers 
Larvae 
1 
Pupae 
Males 
Young 
females 
o:d 
queens 
c 
0?o. 
Total 
41 
60 
16 


1 

118 
75 
50 
16 


1 

142 
160 
400 
30 


590 
183 
435 
15 
5 
17 
655 
190 
530 
60 
26 
4 
810 
220 
430 
75 
21 
3 
1 
7 
757 
260 
650 
210 
11 
27 
1158 
280 
340 
120 
12 
20 
772 
330 
150 
240 
6 
24 
750 
340 
150 
60 

5 
555 
360 
750 
30 
13 
33 
1186 
380 
420 
35 
2 
19 
856 
410 
700 
120 
14 
21 
1265 
475 
235 
115 

16 
841 
540 
150 
250 
6 
29 
975 
585 
280 
125 

16 
1006 
680 
240 
125 
31 
12 
1088 
740 
310 
180 
19 
15 
1264 
860 
200 
160 
16 
34 
1270 
900 
450 
25 
21 
38 
1434 
It will be noticed, on examining this table — the figures for which 
are arranged in the order of the number of workers in each nest — that 
the first three colonies are of a different class from the remainder, 
marked by the absence of winged ants of either sex, and by relatively 
small numbers of worker larvae and worker pupae. These numbers are 
apparently too large, however, for a first-year colony, and are probably 
the result of two years' multiplication from the sole queen founder. 
Possibly the third of the series, with its 160 workers, 400 larvae, and 
30 pupae, is a third-year family. The small number of males and 
