LENGTH OF LIFE. 9 
tively little change throughout the winter. It is much 
more difficult to ascertain the length of life of the 
perfect insect, on account of their gregarious habits, 
and the difficulty of recognising individual ants. I. 
have found, however, as we shall presently see, that 
their life is much longer than has been generally 
supposed. 
Itis generally stated in entomological works that the 
males of ants die almost immediately. No doubt this 
is generally the case. At the same time, some males 
of Myrmica ruginodis, which I isolated with their 
mates in August 1876, lived until the following spring ; 
one of them till May 17. 
It has also been the general opinion that the 
females lived about a year. Christ! indeed thought 
they might last three or even four seasons, but this 
was merely a suggestion, and Forel expressed the 
general opinion when he said, ‘Je suis persuadé qu’en 
automne il ne reste presque plus que les ouvriéres 
écloses pendant le courant de V’été.? The average 
life of a queen is also, he thinks, not more than twelve 
months. J have found, however, that the life of the 
queens and workers is much longer than had been sup- 
posed. I shall give further details in a subsequent 
chapter, but I may just mention here that I have now 
(December 1881) two queens which have lived with 
me since the year 1874. They must therefore be at 
‘ Naturgeschichte der Insekten. 
