SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 133 
Longevity. 
It may be remembered that my nests have enabled me to keep 
ants under observation for long periods, and that I have identified 
workers of Lasius nirjer and Formica fusca which were at least 
7 years old, and two queens of Formica fusca which have lived with 
me ever since December 1874. One of these queens, after ailing 
for some days, died on the 30th July, 1887. She must then have 
been more than 13 years old. I was at first afraid that the other 
one might be affected by the death of her companion. She 
lived, however, until the 8th August, 1888, when she must have 
been nearly 15 years old, and is therefore by far the oldest 
insect on record. 
Moreover, what is very extraordinary, she continued to lay 
fertile eggs. This remarkable fact is most interesting from a 
physiological point of view. Fertilization took place in 1874 at 
the latest. There has been no male in the nest since then, and, 
moreover, it is I believe well established that queen ants and 
queen bees are fertilized once for all. Hence the spermatozoa 
of 1874 must have retained their life and energy for 13 years, a 
fact, I believe, unparalleled in physiology. 
In some plants (Hues) the pollen-tube takes as long as two 
years to reach the ovule. Indeed the pollen has some claims to 
be regarded as a separate organism, for it certainly possesses the 
power of growth and of assimilating nourishment. There is not, 
however, so far as I am awmre, any other case which can compare 
.with that of my queen ant as regards the longevity of the male 
element. One is even tempted to wonder, under such circum- 
stances, whether there is any multiplication of the spermatogenic 
cells. 
Moreover the case is not altogether isolated. I had another 
queen of Formica fusca which lived to be 13 years old, and I have 
now a queen of Lasius niger which is more than 9 years old, and 
still lays fertile eggs which produce female ants. 
Ants and Seeds oe Melampyrum pretense. 
M. Liindstrom has recently called attention to the interesting 
fact that the seeds of this plant closely resemble pupae of ants 
in size, shape, and colour, even to the black mark at one end. 
He has suggested very ingeniously that this may be an advantage 
to the plant by deceiving the ants, and thus inducing them to 
carry oft' and so disseminate the seeds. There seemed, however, 
LINN. JOURN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XX. 12 
