96 
Psyche 
[March 
offered a measure of the number of workers produced from worker 
parentage. Only cocoon fragments were tallied which either were 
nearly intact or which included the larval meconium, thus ensuring 
that each fragment represented no more than one individual. 
Between January 30, 1954, and March 13, 1954, 1472 such 
cocoon-fragments were counted, representing the workers arising 
from worker parentage in a typical one and one-half months’ pro- 
duction for that period. 
Rhytidoponera tasmaniemis 
R. tasmaniensis is a species closely allied to R. metallica and 
resembling it closely in both habitus and ethology. It is characterized 
by a relatively southern distribution in Australia, including south 
Victoria and Tasmania. 
A colony of R. tasmaniensis was collected at Lower Fern Tree 
Gully Station, Victoria, on January 2, 1962, and a number of further 
colonies were taken in the Domain at Hobart, Tasmania, on January 
10 and 11.* None contained perfect females. All these colonies were 
housed in the usual glass modified Lubbock nests. On May 19 and 
on subsequent dates samples of cocoons were removed, and opened 
and assayed for sex and c^ste as usual. The results follow: 
Colony 
Dates of 
Assay of Pupal and Young Adult S 
amples 
No. 
Examination 
Workers 
Males 
1 . 
5/19/62 
17 pupae 
0 
9/17/62 
37 pupae; 4 fresh-hatched callows 
0 
1/ 5/63 
24 pupae 
0 
2/ 9/63 
27 pupae 
0 
3/10/63 
18 pupae 
0 
3/ 1/64 
24 pupae; 7 fresh-hatched callows 
0 
9/20/64 
13 pupae 
0 
Other 
9/ 9/62 
2 pupae ; 1 fresh-hatched callow 
0 
colonies 
10/22/62 
8 pupae 
0 
grouped 
1/ 5/63 
0 (2 male-producing nests) 
10 pupae 
Thus over a period of two years and four months, beginning four 
and one-half months after capture, a single colony of R. tasmaniensis 
produced 1 7 1 worker pupae or fresh-hatched adults, another 8, and a 
third contributed two worker pupae and a single adult. Two further 
(and small) groups contributed 10 male pupae. Once again the 
evidence for worker production is very clear. 
*1 am especially appreciative of the help given in obtaining the Hobart 
material by Mr. John Hickman of the University of Tasmania. 
