! CHEMICAL RELEASERS OF 
NECROPHORIC BEHAVIOR IN ANTS 
By E. 0. Wilson , 1 N. I. Durlach, 2 and L. M. Roth 3 
Introduction 
One of the more conspicuous and stereotyped patterns 
of social behavior exhibited by ants is the transport of dead 
members of the colony from the nest to the refuse piles 
(McCook, 1882; Wheeler, 1926). Because of the obvious 
simplicity of this “necrophoric” response and the ease 
with which it can be experimentally elicited, it has proven 
to be one of the forms of ant behavior most amenable to 
physiological analysis. In the present paper are presented 
the results of a preliminary study of the response in the 
myrmicine ants Pogonomyrmex badius (Latreille) and 
Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith), in which special atten- 
tion has been paid to the releasing stimuli. 
Description of the Behavior 
When the corpse of an adult Pogonomyrmex badius work- 
er that has been allowed to decompose in the open air for 
a day or more is placed inside the nest or outside near the 
nest entrance, the first sister worker to encounter it ordin- 
arily investigates it briefly by repeated antennal contact, 
then picks it up and carries it directly away from the nest 
toward the refuse piles. Under the conditions existing dur- 
ing the present study, most of the refuse piles of the captive 
colonies were located less than one meter from the nest 
entrance along the back wall of a closed foraging arena. 
This distance was evidently inadequate to allow the rapid 
consummation of the corpse removal response, for workers 
bearing corpses frequently wandered for many minutes 
1 Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge Mass. 
2 Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Mass. 
3 U. S. Army Quartermaster Research and Engineering Center, Natick, 
Mass. 
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