622 SIR JOHN LTTBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



born in nest 60, even when these had been tended by ants from 

 nest 36. Nest 60, again, behaved in a similar manner, as a general 

 rule, amicably receiving its own young, even when tended by ants 

 from 36 ; and refusing to receive ants born in nest 36, even when 

 tended by specimens from 60. 



These experiments seem to indicate that ants of the same nest 

 do not recognize one another by any password. On the other 

 hand, if ants are removed from a nest in the pupa-state, tended 

 by strangers, and then restored, some at least of their relatives 

 are certainly puzzled, and in many cases doubt their claim to 

 consanguinity. I say some, because while strangers under the 

 circumstances would have been immediately attacked, these ants 

 were in every case amicably received by the majority of the 

 colony, and it was sometimes several hours before they came 

 across one who did not recognize them. 



Suggestions as to the ^Relation Sfc. of second " Knot " and Sting. 



I have elsewhere suggested * that the existence of a second 

 "knot" in the Myrmicidse stands perhaps in relation with their' 

 possession of a sting. The late Pred. Smith indeed, describes 

 (Ecopliylla, which has only one knot, as having a sting ; and I have 

 the above-cited memoir admitted that this would be a difficulty, 

 though not, I think, a conclusive argument against the sugges- 

 tion. Porel t has since pointed out that the sting of (Ecopliylla is 

 rudimentary. He rejects my view, however, on the ground that 

 some ants which have two knots have only a rudimentary sting, 

 such as FJieidole ; while some of the Poneridse have a well deve- 

 loped sting and yet only one knot. 



In does not, however, seem to me that these cases are con- 

 clusive. The stings of ants are obviously homologous with those 

 of Bees and other Hymenoptera. The sting may therefore be 

 said to be more ancient than the ant ; and as we may also assume 

 that the ancestors of ants at one time had an abdomen of the 

 more usual type, i. e. without a knot, the existence of ants 

 with a sting and only one knot, so far from being inexplicable, is 

 just what might have been expected. They represent in this re- 

 spect an archaic phase through which the ancestors of Myrmica 

 must have passed. The existence of a second knot, giving 



* Monthly Micros. Journ. Sept. 1877. 

 t Zeit. f. wise. Zool. 1878, vol. xxx. p. 30. 



