July, 1889]. 313 



FERTILE EGQS LAID BY WORKERS OF LEPTOTEORAX 

 TUBERUM, F. 



BY J. E. ELETCHEK, P.E.S. 



The occurrence detailed below should have been recorded some 

 time since, but my attention has been wholly occupied in other ways. 



At the beginning of April, 1887, I chipped off a bit of bark from 

 a scrubby old maple, exposing to view a nest of Leptothorax tuberam. 

 As I had never obtained the <$ , nor seen a winged ? , the thought 

 occurred to me to take home the creatures, and try to obtain those 

 forms in domestication. Some of the workers were got into a tin box, 

 and when the ? was espied I tried to tilt her in also ; but, owing to 

 the extreme roughness of the bark and some projecting shoots just 

 below the nest, she must have been tilted to one side, and to the 

 ground. Anyhow, a close examination of the contents of the box 

 at home showed that I had failed to secure her. Not requiring the 

 workers as specimens, nor liking to turn them adrift, I elected to try 

 how long I could maintain them alive, and to observe their conduct ; 

 never dreaming what would be the final result. 



I took a piece of a young willow bole and stood it up in a large 

 flower-pot two-thirds full of earth, placing a layer of moss on the 

 earth. The whole was covered with fine gauze, made cylinder-shaped, 

 capable of being closely tied below the rim of the pot, and held from 

 the bole by an arrangement of wire. Upon a cracked part of the 

 willow bark I pinned a few bits of mossy bark, and placed the ants on 

 the bole ; on the moss covering the soil I placed bits of shred beef, 

 morsels of bread, jam, and moist sugar. Shortly afterwards, I was 

 pleased to see the creatures taking up their abode under the bits of 

 bark arranged, for them, where they continued to reside to the end. 

 Ripe raspberries, gooseberries, &c, were put in for them later on, and 

 they were frequently seen visiting the several edibles. 



Late in July, seeing they were seldom foraging, I unpinned a part 

 of the nest, and was much astonished to see a number of larvae, upon 

 and ax*ound which the ants were gathered. Three weeks later I again 

 peeped into the nest, and was gratified by seeing several cocoons. 



Little was seen of the ants till the last third of September, when 

 I one day saw a minute winged insect within the top of the gauze 

 covering, which proved to be a ^ ant ; the next day several more 

 appeared, and two others on the third day — twenty-one in all. During 

 this, the workers were hurrying about, peeriug in all directions, often 



