38 
Psyche 
[March 
thecae were often overlooked or lost, and reliable information on 
spermathecal condition was not obtained. 
Normally, there are three ovarioles per ovary, each with never 
more than a single mature egg at one time. Egg capacity is low, 
with a maximum of four visible oocytes per female; no two oocytes 
were ever at the same stage of development (as judged by length). 
A mature oocyte is relatively large, occupying nearly two,-thirds of 
the abdomen. These data appear to agree with the trend noted by 
Iwata (1964) — presocial Hymenoptera often tend to produce fewer, 
larger eggs than their solitary relatives. 
THE QUESTION OF SOCIALITY 
A discussion of this important subject is given in detail elsewhere 
(Matthews, 1968) but will be summarized here. Half of the active 
night-collected nests were found to contain more than one adult 
female (see Table 3), with as many as 10 females present in a single 
nest. In the night-collected nests, a, total of 56 females and 19 males 
were obtained, a sex ratio of about 3:1. One relationship examined 
was that between nest size (as indicated by the number of immatures 
present) and number of adult females in the nests. The data, in 
terms of mean reproductivity per colony and reproductivity per fe- 
male (see Michener, 1964), are presented in Table 3 for night- 
Figs. 8 and 9. Diagrammatic cross-sections of M. comes nests. E = 
empty; inc = incomplete food mass; L = larva; Pa = parasite; p = pupa. 
8. The largest nest, showing distribution and contents of the 18 cells; large 
number of empty cells is due to adult eclosion after collection and acci- 
dental loss of cell contents during dissection. 9. A typical 3-celled nest; note 
greater thickness of nest wall. 
