THE AUSTRALIAN: NATURALIST. 179 
Ant used, Polyrhachis ammon. Specimens - found at 
‘Terrigal, October 6th, 1912, consisting of three adults, a 
number of larvae, and two pupae, but the latter soon died. 
On October 8th one of the adults got drowned, and I then 
placed in the nest.a few more ants, winged, wingless, and 
pupae. The adults had all disappeared, save one, by llth 
“October, and on 12th October I removed the larvae from the 
nest and fed them on condensed milk and Benger’s food. On 
Oktober 13th two of them pupated, and on the 17th two 
more. On October 19th I collected ten winged, two workers, 
-and ten pupae of the same species at Mosman. For the first 
day the ants kept still, but on the second day the workers 
were moving about, while the winged ants remained station- 
-ary standing over the pupae. When the glass was lifted the 
workers became very active and showed fight; they fed the 
winged ants, giving a jerk of the head as if to notify the 
latter. When a winged ant wandered, it was promptly car- 
ried back and put well amongst the others. The workers ap- 
“peared to divide the winged ants and would only feed their 
own lot. 
On Oct. 22nd a winged ant died, and between this and the 
25th two workers and one winged hatched out. I noticed a 
winged ant take hold of a pupa and tear it open. Though I 
tried to drive it off, it remained firm. It was then joined by 
-another, which appeared to talk to it, and started ripping 
‘open the case. One of the ants then left while the other re- 
mained holding the case. In fifty minutes from the com- 
mencement of opening the case the head of the emerging ant 
appeared. The attendant ant appeared, to be washing the 
face of the young one. It then further ripped open the case; 
got another winged ant to hold the case while it completed 
‘the oponing. As each limb appeared the attendant ant ap- 
peared to wash it. The young one did not give any assist- 
ance. When at last it emerged its wings looked like two 
pieces of jelly. It kept moving its jaws and limbs up and 
down. The one winged ant washed its body while the other 
-attended to the wings. After about 20 minutes, one ant went 
-away while the other remained working at the wings, separa- 
ting and cleaning them. The other ant then returned, and 
the two worked hard, one holding while the other pulled the 
‘wings clear of their sticky covering. Then two more ants 
came, each taking a wing. The final cleaning was finished in 
-a total time of 4 hours. 
