ORIGIN OF QUEENS. 41 



bees, and in another in that of ants. It is also a strong 

 argument that in none of my nests, though thousands 

 of workers and males have been produced, had I ever 

 observed a queen to be so until the year 1879. On 

 the whole, then, though I differ from so excellent a 

 naturalist with much hesitation, I cannot but think 

 that ants. Like bees, possess the power of developing a 

 given egg into either a queen or a worker. 



I have already mentioned that the previous views 

 as to the duration of life of ants turn out to be quite 

 erroneous. It was the general opinion that they lived 

 for a single year. Two of my queen ants lived, the one 

 nearly fourteen, the other nearly fifteen years, viz., 

 from December 1874 to July 1887 and August 1888 

 respectively. During the whole time they enjoyed 

 perfect health, and every year have laid eggs producing 

 workers, a fact which suggests physiological conclusions 

 of great interest. 



I have, moreover, little doubt that some of the 

 workers now in this nest were among those originally 

 captured, the mortality after the first few weeks having 

 been but small. This, however, I cannot prove. 



A nest of F. sanguinea, which M. Forel kindly 

 forwarded to me on September 12, 1875 (but which 

 contained no queen), gradually diminished in numbers, 

 until in February 1879 it was reduced to two F. san- 

 guineas and one slave. The latter died in February 

 1880. One of the two mistresses died between May 

 10 and May 16, 1880, and the other only survived her 



