420 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



summer the nest may be found swarming with winged forms which are 

 the kings and queens. Some warm day these will issue from the nest 

 and take their marriage flighty the only time in their lives when they use 

 their wings; for ants, like seeds, seem to be provided with wings simply 

 for the sake of scattering wide the species. It is a strange fact, that often 

 on the same day swarms will issue from all the nests of one species in the 

 whole region; by what mysterious messenger, word is sent that brings 



about this unanimous exodus, is still a 

 mystery to us. This seems to be a provi- 

 sion for cross-breeding; and as bearing upon 

 this. Miss Fielde discovered that an alien 

 king is not only made welcome in a nest, but 

 is sometimes seized by workers and pulled 

 into a nest; this is most significant, since 

 no worker of any other colony of the same 

 species, is permitted to live in any but its 

 own nest. 



After the marriage flight, the ants fall 

 to the ground and undoubtedly a large 

 number perish; however, just here our 

 knowledge is lamentably lacking, and 

 observations on the part of pupils as to 

 what happens to these winged forms will be 

 valuable. In the case of most species, we 

 know that a queen finds refuge in some 

 shelter and there lays eggs. Mr. Comstock 

 once studied a queen of the big, black 

 carpenter ant which lives under the bark of 

 trees. This queen, without taking any food 

 .• herself, was able to lay her eggs and rear her 

 first brood to maturity; she regurgitated 

 food for this first brood, and then they went 

 out foraging for the colony. However, 

 Miss Fielde found that in the species she 

 studied, the queen could not do this; a 

 question most interesting to solve is 

 whether any of the young queens, after the 

 marriage flight, are adopted into other 

 colonies of the same species. As soon as a 

 queen begins laying eggs, she sheds her then useless wings, laying them 

 aside as a bride does her veil. 



When we are looking for ants' nests beneath stones, we often stumble 

 ■upon a colony consisting of citizens differing in color. One has the head 

 and thorax rust-red with the abdomen and legs brown ; associated with 

 this brown ant, is a black or ash-colored species. These black ants are 

 the slaves of the brown species; but slavery in the ant world has its 

 ameliorations. When the slave makers attack the slave nest, they do not 

 fight the inmates unless they are obhged to. They simply loot the nest 

 of the larvae or pupae, which they carry off to their own nests ; and there 

 they are fed and reared, as carefully as are their own young. The slaves 

 seem to be perfectly contented, and conduct the household affairs of their 

 masters with apparent cheerfulness. They do all the taking care of the 



Agricultural ants. Note that one 

 ant is carrying a sister. 



Drawn by Evelyn Mitchell. 



