SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 



609 



were males. The other I could not fiad ; but I have no doubt, 

 from the appeacaiice of the pupa, that it was also a male. 



Another nest of Lasius nigcr, captured in November 1875, in 

 1878 brought only one young ant to maturity; and this was a 

 male. 



Again, in a nest of Formica fusca captured in 1875, though in 

 1876 and 1877 eggs were laid and a few arrived at the pupa-state, 

 none came to maturity. Tliey were all, however, either males or 

 queens, and, I have little doubt, were males. This year one came 

 to maturity, and it was a male. 



Another nest of F. fusca, captured in 187G, did not bring up 

 any young in 1877. This year three larvae came to maturity ; and 

 they all proved to be males. A nest of F. fusca, captured in 

 1877, in 1878 brought only one young one to maturity. This was 

 a male. 



In these species, then, as far as the evidence goes, it would 

 seem that, as in bees, the workers can produce males only. On 

 the other hand, I ought to add that in a nest oi Lasius flavus cap- 

 tured in 1876 a number of workers were produced this year. In 

 this species the larvse live through the winter ; but I can hardly 

 believe they take two years in coming to maturity. Nor do I 

 think the ants had access to any other larvae ; still I would not 

 attach too much importance to this isolated case. In the case of 

 bees we know that the queen is brought up on different food from 

 the workers. Whether this is the case among ants, we have no 

 knowledge. I am, however, disposed to believe it ; because while 

 hundreds, I might say thousands, of workers have been bred in 

 my nests, and a large number of males, not a single queen has 

 been produced in any one of them. 



As to the Melations of Ants and tlieir Domestics. 

 M. Lespes has given a short but interesting account of some 

 experiments made by him on the relations existing between ants 

 and their domestic animals, from which it might be inferred that 

 even within the limits of a single species some communities are 

 more advanced than others. He found that specimens of the 

 curious blind beetle Clavi(jer, which always occurs with ants, 

 when transferred from a nest of Lasius niger to another which 

 kept none of these domestic beetles, were invariably attacked and 

 eaten. From this he infers that the intelligence necessary to 

 keep Clavigers is not coextensive with the species, but belongs 



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