DONISTHORPEA. 239 



September 14 , but the latter month seems to be the more usual time. 

 Forel noticed the males and winged females leaving a nest together 

 at Zurich on September 20th, 1870, at half -past four in the after- 

 noon 13 , Bignell observed a number of males and winged females 

 on an old bramble stem at Bickleigh on September 2nd, 1881, the 

 workers being on the ground below in great commotion 15 , Evans 

 captured two winged mixta females with several winged flava 

 females on September 22nd, 1903, from a big swarm on the banks 

 of South Esk, Dalkeith Park 22 , and Misses Baxter and Rintoul 

 took males, females, and workers on the Isle of May on September 

 10th, llth, and 27th, and October 3rd, 1907 19 . 



Forel found a large number of winged females, no males being 

 present, in a colony at Morges, on March 16th, 1868 13 , which must 

 have passed the winter in the nest. 



On September 7th, 1913, I found a great number of males and 

 winged females in a nest in a juniper root at Box Hill 27 , in which 

 some six or more young, freshly dealated, very active females also 

 occurred. These young females may have already been fertilized 

 in the nest, and as the females of this species do not lay till the 

 following year, and as only one queen occurs in a nest, I would 

 suggest that these young queens may leave the nests in the spring, 

 which would account for the isolated females found on roads, etc., at 

 that time. 



On March 7th, 1910, I found a dealated female walking on the 

 heath at Wey bridge 20 , on February 17th, 1911, Dollman picked up 

 a dealated female at large in Richmond Park 20 , in March, 1911, 

 Hallett captured a dealated female walking on the Millbrook road 

 at Dinas Powis 28 , and on April 22nd, 1911, Crawley and I took two 

 dealated females on the road at Mickleham 20 . 



As with umbrata, it is very rarely that the queen can be found in 

 a mixta colony, but on May 23rd, 1913, I had the good fortune to 

 find the queen in two nests of this species 27 . The whole colony was 

 exposed by pulling up the juniper tree bodily, and shaking the roots, 

 in which the ants were situated, over a sheet, and in each of these 

 two nests the colony consisted of a single dealated female, with the 

 gaster considerably swollen, packets of eggs, young larvae and a 

 large number of workers. 



Young females of D. mixta undoubtedly found their colonies in 

 nests of D. aliena. As long ago as 1852, Schenck recorded that he 

 once found a female mixta in the earth with workers of aliena 2 , 

 but he did not draw any conclusion from this remarkable fact ; 

 myrmecologists appear to have overlooked Schenck's record and its 

 importance. 



On July 18th, 1912, I dug up a colony of aliena which was 

 nesting in a sandy bank at Weybridge, and contained a dealated 

 female mixta, a number of aliena workers, and many large and 

 small cocoons 25 , but the most careful search failed to produce any 



