SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 35 



mission in life accomplished in their marriage- 

 flight and airy union with the queens, soon 

 perish. 



It is curious that in spite of the great amount 

 of careful observation which has been devoted to 

 the Ants, very little is really known as to how 

 their nests are commenced ; whether the young 

 queen after her marriage-flight and willing 

 sacrifice of her gauzy wings, founds unaided a 

 new nest ; or seeks and obtains the assistance of 

 a small band of workers ; or returns to the nest 

 in which she was born ; or seeks admission to 

 some other established nest. As Ant com- 

 munities exist for a number of years, it seems 

 highly probable that new young queens are from 

 time to time adopted, although Lord Avebury's 

 experiments seemed to go against this theory, for 

 in each case where he removed queens of Lasius 

 flavus from one nest and introduced them to 

 another of the same species, these queens were 

 at once attacked in a hostile manner by the 

 workers of the nest into which they had been 

 introduced. On the other hand, Mr. McCook 

 gives the following interesting account of the 

 adoption of a fertile queen of Crematogaster 

 lineolata, by a colony of the same species : 

 "The queen was taken April 16, and on May 14 

 following was introduced to workers of a nest 

 taken the same day. The queen was alone 

 within an artificial glass formicary, and several 

 workers were introduced. One of these soon 

 found the queen, exhibited much excitement but 

 no hostility, and immediately ran to her sister 

 workers, all of whom were presently clustered 



