230 
Psyche 
[September 
were more attracted to secretions of pheromones deposited by their 
own queens than to those of conspecific queens from other colonies. 
They also reported that workers of N eivamyrmex nigrescens (Cres- 
son), N . opacithorax (Emery), and N. pilosus (F. Smith) that had 
been kept in laboratory nests without queens for at least 25 days were 
more attracted to queen secretions than were workers housed with 
queens. 
The comparative attraction of workers of N. carolinensis housed in 
laboratory nests with and without queens was tested using methods 
similar to those described by Watkins and Cole (1966), except all 
15 untreated squares of a 16-square grid were used as controls rather 
than a single untreated square. More than four times as many 
workers, housed without a queen for 16 days, were attracted to the 
queen-square compared with the number of workers attracted when 
kept with a queen (Table 2). 
Table 2. Attraction of workers of N. carolinensis from, the laboratory nests 
with and without queens to conspecific queen secretions. 
Trials 
Days 
without $ 
Total ants 
9 -sq. 
on squares 
u-sqs. 
Prob. 
$ : u 
1 
16 
81 
36 
< 0.001 
2 
0 
45 
10 
< 0.001 
3 
16 
124 
33 
< 0.001 
4 
0 
1 
11 
> 0.70 
5 
16 
105 
81 
< 0.001 
Means : 
workers without 
queen attracted 
to queen square, 103. 
workers with 
queen attracted to 
queen square, 23. 
Probability of means: 
< 
0.001. 
$ -sq. — 1 square on which queen had been placed, 
u-sqs. — 15 untreated squares. 
LICKING OF QUEENS BY WORKER ANTS 
Army ant queens probably are licked more frequently than queens 
of other species of ants. The extent of such licking under conditions 
approximating a natural bivouac is difficult to observe directly be- 
cause the queens often are covered by dense masses of workers. 
Schneirla (1944) reported that worker army ants licked the interseg- 
mental membranes, hypogynium, and vaginal regions of physogastric 
queens. Rettenmeyer (1963: 350-352) showed that workers were 
much more attracted to the gaster of their queen than to her head or 
thorax, but there was no consistent preference for any part of the 
gaster. 
