THE COLONY AS A WHOLE. 53 
A short time after the " divisional migration" has taken place in the 
early part of March, the large amount of food brought in by the 
workers, acting in conjunction with the warmer temperature, appears 
to stimulate the queens to lay great numbers of eggs. Most of the 
young stages carried through the winter or which have slowly matured 
during winter have by this time transformed into workers, so that 
the colonies consist of many workers, with comparatively few imma- 
ture stages other than the eggs. Hatching takes place during the latter 
half of March, and the larvae resulting from these eggs, after develop- 
ing, transform into three classes of pupae, viz, queen, male, and 
worker. Of these the male pupae preponderate, with the workers a 
close second and queen pupae a very poor third. The male* pupae 
appear in great numbers several days before the queen pupae appear, 
which may possibly indicate a slightly longer larval period for the 
queens than for the males. 
The adult winged males appear during the latter part of April and 
in May, and are in evidence in the nests until the beginning of June, 
when they begin to disappear. The winged queens appear a few days 
later. For some reason the winged queens are extraordinarily dim- 
cult to find in the nests, although their large size and long narrow 
wings should make them very conspicuous. However, only three 
winged queens have as yet been located in the nests under natural 
conditions in Louisiana. Fortunately the queen pupae are not so 
difficult to discover, and a considerable number have been reared to 
the adult stage in Janet style nests in the laboratory, where most of 
our observations upon this stage have been made. 
The appearance of the winged queens and males may or may not 
be followed by a nuptial flight. In either case, after the queens have 
become fertile they lose their wings and immediately start laying 
great numbers of eggs. These eggs develop into workers, with the 
exception of a few eggs which are laid in the late autumn and develop 
into males. It thus follows that the most rapid and conspicuous 
increase in numbers occurs during July, August, and September, 
when the eggs laid by the army of young queens complete their life 
history and transform into adult workers. 
From then on to late in the fall the history of the colonies is very 
similar and devoid of incident. The numerical strength of the ants 
is constantly on the increase, and it is probable that the greatest 
natural dispersion occurs during the fall months, after the nests 
have been excessively crowded by the activity and increase of the 
summer. 
During the latter part of October and in November the nights 
begin to get cool and we find the first inclination toward the form- 
ation of the winter colonies. The nests in exposed open situations 
are gradually deserted, and strong colonies accumulate in well- 
