Care of the Young in the Animal Kingdom. 179 



.of animal reason and animal ethics stand utterly 

 bewildered. 



We have seen so far, how the Lomechusa-larvae 

 are treated in normal sanguinea-colonies, in which the 

 education of Lomechusas dates but one or two years 

 back. According to my observations during the last 

 years, the case is, however, different in colonies, where 

 the influence of the parasitic larvae of that beetle has 

 caused the appearance of those crippled, intermediate 

 forms between females and workers, which we have 

 called pseudogynes. For the reason mentioned above, 

 only a few Lomechusas are developed, as a rule, in 

 the normal colonies, whereas in colonies containing 

 pseudogynes, many more of the beetles pass their 

 pupation successfully, because the pupae generally 

 remain undisturbed. This accounts for the fact, that 

 the sanguinea-colonies containing pseudogynes are the 

 centers from which the rapidly multiplying Lomechusa 

 infests also the neighboring nests. One instance may 

 be mentioned here. Colony No. 191 of my statistical 

 map in the middle of May, 1898, had from 2 to 3% 

 of pseudogynes ; in August, however, the number of 

 pseudogynes newly developed during summer had 

 risen to 30% ! In order to ascertain, how many beetles 

 had been reared in this colony in 1898, I dug up the 

 nest at the end of September and found among the 

 ants 116 Lomechusas* snugly ensconced in their winter- 



*) From this number the 30 Lomechusas were taken, which I put 

 in my sanguined nest at home and the greater part of which were again 

 driven out by the ants (see p. 59). This surprising conduct is some- 

 what accounted for by the fact that the colony of my observation nest 

 belonged to the normally developed class, and not to such as contained 

 pseudogynes. 



