120 siE J. ltjbbock: on ants, bees, and -wasps. 



nized as friends. For the sake of comparison, at noon I put 

 in a stranger. Her behaviour was in marked contrast. The 

 preceding ants seemed quite at home, walked about peaceably 

 among the other ants, and made no attempt to leave the nest. 

 The stranger, on the contrary, ran uneasily about, started away 

 from any ant she met, and made every effort to get out of the 

 nest. After she had three times escaped, I let her go. 



Thus, then, when a nest of Formica fiisca is divided early in 

 spring and when there are no young, the ants produced in each 

 half were in twenty-eight cases all received as friends. In no 

 case was there the slightest trace of enmity. 



Peculiarities of Manner in Different Species of Ants. 

 In one of my previous memoirs* I have observed that the 

 behaviour of Lasius flamis offered in some respects a surprising 

 contrast to that of Formica fusca. In experimenting on the 

 power of recognizing friends possessed by these species, I found 

 that wliile specimens of Lasius flavus readily, and even of their 

 own accord, entered other nests of the same species, Formica 

 fusca, on the contrary, showed a marked reluctance to do so ; 

 and I had some difficulty in inducing them to do so. At that 

 time, however, I did not ascertain what became of the specimens 

 thus introduced into a strange community. I thought it would 

 be worth while to determine this ; so I took six ants from one of 

 my nests oi Lasius flavus, mscrk&di them, and introduced them into 

 another nest of the same species. As in the preceding cases, they 

 entered quite readily ; but though they were not at first attacked, 

 they were evidently recognized as strangers. The others exa- 

 mined them carefully ; and at length they were all driven out of 

 the nest. Their greater readiness to enter a strange nest may 

 perhaps be accounted for by the fact that, as a subterranean spe- 

 cies, their instinct always is to conceal themselves underground, 

 whereas F. fusca, a hunting species, does not do so, except to 

 enter its own nest. 



Longevity of Ants. 

 In my previous paper I have called attention to the consider- 

 able age attained by my ants ; and I may perhaps be permitted 

 to repeat here, mutatis mutandis, a paragraph from my last com- 

 munication with reference to my most aged specimens, most of 

 * Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 611. 



