36 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



upon the queen. As other workers were gradu- 

 ally introduced they joined their comrades, until 

 the body of the queen (who is much larger than 

 the workers) was nearly covered with them. 

 They appeared to be holding on by their man- 

 dibles to the delicate hairs upon the female's body, 

 and continually moved their antennae caressingly. 

 This sort of attention continued until the queen, 

 escorted by workers, disappeared in one of the 

 galleries. She was entirely adopted, and there- 

 after was often seen moving freely, or attended 

 by guards, about the nest, at times engaged in 

 attending the larvae and pupae which had been 

 introduced with the workers of the strange 

 colony." 



That in some instances the queen has the 

 power and instinct to found a colony and success- 

 fully rear her larvae unaided, has been shown by 

 another of Lord Avebury's careful and interesting 

 experiments. He isolated two pairs of Myrmica 

 ruginodis which he had found flying in his gardens 

 and successfully kept them under observation 

 for a considerable period ; watching the queens 

 deposit their eggs and tend their larvae and 

 pupae, until, their metamorphosis completed, the 

 workers were ready to help in the duties of 

 rearing the young and providing a supply of food. 

 It is also interesting to note that the two males 

 captured at the same time as these queens, and 

 kept with them under observation in Lord 

 Avebury's formicary, lived for eight and nine 

 months respectively, after their nuptial flight. 

 Lord Avebury has also most conclusively demon- 

 strated that the duration of the life of the Ant is 



