OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS. 
77 
Ants surround it with little pellets of earth. Inside this chamber 
the larva by muscular efforts can revolve and so surround itself by 
a cocoon of silk. 
The imagines or perfect Ants emerge from the pupse, some with 
and some without wings. 
Those with wings are either c* or 9 , and those without are 
5 ^ , or what are really neuter 9 9- 
Every year, usually in July, August and September, a large 
number of cT d* and 9 9 are born. 
When atmospheric and probably other conditions which are 
unknown to us, are suitable, practically all the cf cf and 9 9 , of 
one species in a field, leave their respective nests and fly into 
the air. If it is very windy the Ants are carried long distances — 
thus well distributing the species. Copulation occurs in the air, 
after which both cf and 9 pitch — the cf to die and the 9 to form 
a new colony. It is the formation of new nests which is a vexed 
question with entomologists. That new nests are formed is un- 
doubted, but I know of no record of freshly fertilised 9 9 , start- 
ing a new nest, except in captivity. I have myself seen Ants 
swarm, and watched the 9 pitch after fertilisation ; also I have 
watched the 9 break off her own wings, but I have never 
succeeded in inducing her to start a colony. I think, myself, that 
the new queen enters the earth and lays a few eggs. These hatch 
and she tends the larvae until eventually they develop into 
workers. 
At this point the queen stops work, and simply lays eggs, while 
the workers tend her and her offspring. In several years quite a 
big colony can be formed in this way. I do not think it is a rule 
that new queens enter already established nests, as in every case 
I have tried, the new queen was killed. 
Ants have a great love for their queen, and a detachment of 
workers are continually cleaning, licking, and caressing her. Even 
in death they do not forsake her. A striking instance of this 
occurred in one of my nests of Lasius flavus. The queen, after 
living happily for a year with the workers, died. Instead of 
taking the remains to the corner of the nest (as is usually done 
when a 8 dies), they caressed and paid homage to the remains for 
over eight months at which period the poor queen was in three 
pieces. 
If the nest was disturbed, the first thing the workers did was to 
take the dead queen to a place of safety. At different times, I 
introduced three queens into this nest, but thev were promptly 
killed. 
Of the forty species of British Ants, I have succeeded in dis- 
covering ten in Somerset and Gloucester, the names of which 
