94 ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. [LECT. 



the llth July I found there were six eggs, and on the 

 14th, about ten. On the 15th, one of the pupae began 

 to turn brown ; and the eggs were about fifteen in 

 number. On the 16th, a second pupa began to turn 

 brown. On the 21st, a fifth larva had turned into a 

 pupa, and there were about twenty eggs. On the 

 22nd July, the first worker emerged, and a sixth larva 

 had changed. On the 25th, when I looked into the 

 nest, I observed the young worker carrying the larvae 

 about. A second worker was coming out. On 

 July 28th, a third worker emerged, and a fourth on 

 the 5th August. The eggs appeared less numerous, 

 some having probably been devoured. 



This experiment shows that the queens of Myrmica 

 ruginodis have the instinct of bringing up larvae, and 

 the power of founding communities. 



The workers remained about six weeks in the egg, a 

 month in the state of larva, and 25 27 days as pupae. 



A nest of ants must not be confused with an ant 

 hill in the ordinary sense. Very often indeed a nest 

 has only one dwelling, and in most species seldom more 

 than three or four. Some communities, however, form 

 numerous colonies. M. Forel even found a case in which 

 one nest of F. exsecta had no less than two hundred 

 colonies, and occupied a circular space with a radius of 

 nearly two hundred yards. Within this area they had 

 exterminated all the other ants, except a few nests of 

 Tapinoma erraticum, which survived, thanks to the 

 great agility of this species. In these cases, the number 

 of ants thus associated together must have been enor- 

 jj^mous. Even in single nests, Forel estimates the numbers 

 \ at from five thousand to half a million. 



