HI.] COMMENCEMENT OF NEW NESTS. 91 



This however is not quite a correct version of what 

 Huber says. His words are : "I enclosed several females 

 in a nest full of light humid earth, with which they 

 constructed lodges, where they resided ; some singly, 

 others in common. They laid their eggs and took 

 great care of them ; and notwithstanding the incon- 

 venience of not being able to vary the temperature 

 of their habitation, they reared some, which became 

 larvae of a tolerable size, but which soon perished 

 from the effect of my own negligence/' 



It will be observed that it was the eggs not the 

 larvae which, according to Huber, these isolated 

 females reared. It is true that he attributes the early 

 and uniform death of the larvae to his own negligence ; 

 but the fact remains, that in none of his observations 

 did an isolated female bring her offspring to maturity. 

 Other entomologists, especially Forel and Ebrard, have 

 repeated the same observations, with similar results ; 

 and as yet in no single case has an isolated female 

 been known to bring her young to maturity. Forel 

 even thought himself justified in concluding from his 

 observations, and those of Ebrard, that such a fact 

 could not occur. Lepeletier de St. Fargeau was of 

 opinion that ants' nests originate in the second mode 

 indicated above, and it is indeed far from improbable 

 that this may occur. No clear case has, however, yet 

 been observed. 



Under these circumstances, 1 made various experi- 

 ments, in order if possible to solve the question. For 

 instance, I took an old fertile queen from a nest of 

 Laslus flavus, and put her to another nest of the same 

 species. The workers became very excited and killed 



