8 
Psyche 
[Mar. 
brood workers, in contrast to the lower Ponerines, and second, 
that the colony may be formed in a perfectly claustral manner 
in this Ponerine, as among the higher ants. 
There is some indication, however, that although such per- 
fectly claustral colony foundation can and perhaps usually does 
occur in B. lutea, the pattern may not be as firmly established 
as among the Formicinae or the Myrmicinae. Thus five mature 
but virgin females, taken from adult nests near S}^dney, when 
artificially dealated in Lubbock nests, behaved somewhat more 
typically of the lower Ponerines. All of them formed cells of the 
usual type, and all shortly produced eggs which were kept in 
compact packets and carefully tended. The cells, however, were 
not completely closed in this series. They were, in fact, fre- 
quently opened to permit the queens to emerge and forage. 
These queens, in sharp contrast to those described above, ex- 
cavated extensive galleries, and, although they spent consider- 
able periods quiescent within the brood-chambers, they also 
spent much time foraging, and eagerly accepted both nectar 
and insects, taking workers of Reticulitermes ftavipes with espe- 
cial avidity. At times, the females left the nests altogether to 
wander for periods in the open air before returning to the 
galleries and eventually to the brood chambers. Although these 
queens persisted until June, the infertile eggs failed to hatch, 
and no colonies were established. This was very probably abnor- 
mal behavior, based on the infertility of the females. It is of 
some interest, however, since the pattern so closely approxi- 
mated that of the normal pattern of the fertile females of other 
Ponerine species. 
It may be concluded, then, that the fertile females of Braclry- 
ponera lutea are capable of founding their colonies in the typi- 
cally claustral fashion of higher ants, isolating themselves in 
permanently closed cells and bringing a few very small workers 
to maturity on ingluvial food probably derived entirely from 
their own tissues. At the same time, this remarkably advanced 
behavior-pattern may be more labile than among the higher 
ants. It is evident that the females of B. lutea retain the capacity 
to actively forage under certain conditions, and, it is quite 
likely, may do so normally if an unusually rich supply of insect 
