1980] Buschinger, Francoeur, & Fischer —Leptothorax 
3 
sites in large, polygynous colonies which sometimes extend over 
more than 1 m 2 . We could regularly identify, in different Myrmica 
colonies, several brood chambers of provancheri, the content of 
which, adults and immatures, was removed carefully with an 
aspirator. The ants from one brood chamber, together with a few 
individuals crawling in the soil in the immediate vicinity of the 
chamber, were considered as belonging to one “colony unit”. We 
stress that normally these colony units, found within one Myrmica 
nest, were clearly separated from each other by several decimeters. 
Nevertheless we cannot completely exclude the possibility that two 
chambers belonged to one colony unit (one society), or that 
specimens from two colony units separated by smaller distance were 
mixed together. 
Soon after in the laboratory the numbers of males, females, 
intermorphs, workers, and pupae were counted (Table I). All female 
individuals of several representative samples were dissected and their 
reproductive state was evaluated as described by Buschinger and 
Winter (1976) and Buschinger and Alloway (1978). We prefer to 
define castes only by the function: queens are inseminated, fertile 
individuals, irrespective of their morphological aspect. The morpho¬ 
logical differences between alate or dealate females, “workers” in the 
Table 1: Numbers of individuals, adults and pupae, in 15 
Leptothorax provancheri, as counted immediately after collecting. 
colony units of 
Nr. 
<3<3 
dealate 
5$ 
Inter- Ergato- 
morphs morphs 
(3-pupae 
alate 
9-pupae 
Interm. 
pupae 
Ergatom. 
pupae 
1 
2 
— 
1 
i 
9 
34 
9 
— 
24 
16 
3 
3 
— 
7 
71 
9 
— 
5 
15 
4 
2 
— 
5 
26 
7 
— 
— 
10 
5 
22 
— 
6 
60 . 
18 
— 
11 
27 
7 
5 
— 
9 
36 
10 
_ 
16 
23 
8 
8 
1 
21 
30 
26 
3 
31 
14 
9 
— 
— 
3 
6 
— 
— 
1 
8 
10 
2 
— 
I 
6 
2 
— 
— 
— 
11 
1 
— 
3 
21 
6 
— 
3 
15 
12 
— 
— 
4 
13 
— 
— 
2 
5 
13 
— 
— 
13 
29 
7 
— 
8 
17 
14 
— 
— 
12 
22 
— 
— 
11 
9 
15 
1 
— 
14 
20 
2 
— 
19 
7 
2 
44 
2 
109 
375 
96 
3 
131 
166 
