240 BRITISH ANTS. 



other female, and no eggs were present. The colony was taken 

 home and established in a Janet nest, and when all the cocoons 

 had hatched, the large ones proved to be aliena winged females, 

 and the smaller ones aliena workers. The mixta female was very 

 active, being exceedingly rapid in her movements, and very excited 

 when first dug up. She laid eggs on August 7th, 1912, and was 

 always treated as their queen by the aliena workers, who fed and 

 cleaned her, and appeared to attend to her brood. 



Crawley and I have suggested, as this female laid eggs in 1912, that 

 " we should judge this L. mixtus female, therefore, to have been 

 adopted last summer " 23 i.e. in 1911, but should this female have 

 left the parent nest in the spring of 1912, and having found a nest of 

 aliena have been accepted by the workers, it would account for 

 her laying in the same year when accepted, but this would still be 

 the year following fertilization. 



On September 1st small larvae were present and a number were 

 brought up, but as eventually only aliena workers were produced, 

 the offspring of the mixta female must have been devoured and 

 the aliena workers themselves have laid eggs, the result obtained 

 being the same as in Crawley 's experiments with umbrata and nigra. 



On November 1st the aliena workers killed some of their own 

 winged females, and eventually destroyed and cut up all of them. 

 The mixta female unfortunately died on November 5th ; she 

 gradually lost the use of her legs, and in the end could only move 

 her antennae, which she kept waving backwards and forwards, but 

 to the last the aliena workers carried her about, cleaning and 

 attending to her. 



A number of larvae are now present in this nest, and a female 

 umbrata as queen, but it is almost certain that these larvae will 

 prove to be the offspring of the workers. 



On August llth, 1912, when I had the pleasure of Professor 

 Wheeler's company, we found, at Weybridge again, another mixta 

 female, as queen in a nest of D. aliena 25 . 



These are instances in nature where the mixta female has sought 

 a nest of aliena in which to found her colony, and has been accepted 

 by the workers. It is probable that either the latter then killed 

 their own queen, if they possessed one, or the mixta female accom- 

 plished this act herself. 



The following myrmecophiles have occurred with D. mixta in 

 Britain : 



Coleoptera : Homoeusa acuminata Mark., and Claviger longicornis 

 Mull, 



Formicidae : Myrmecina graminicola Latr., Stenamma westwoodi 

 West., and Leptothorax nylanderi Forst. 



Collembola : Cyphodeirus ( = Beckia) albinos Nic. 



Araneina : Cicurina cinerea Panz. 



