Excerpt from The Biological Bulletin, Vol. 2
The observations hitherto published on the habits of the Ponerine subfamily of ants are extremely meager. This gap in our knowledge of ant life must be the more keenly felt by all myrmecologists because the Ponerinae (including the Cerapachyi, a group allied to the Dorylinae, or driver ants) are, to all appearances at least, the most generalized of existing Formicidae. That the Ponerinae have a very primitive morphological and social organization seems to be indicated by the facts, first, that their colonies are composed of a relatively small number of individuals - - like the incipient colonies of the more specialized Myrmicine and Formicine ants, and, second, that the polymorphism of the female is still, apparently, in an unstable condition, i.e., the workers often differ little if any from the queens, or females, in form and size, and the two phases are frequently connected by individuals of an intermediate character (ergatoid, or ergatomorphic females). It has also been suspected by Professor Forel and Professor Emery that the breeding habits of the Ponerinae would be found to be of a primitive nature.
The common occurrence of three beautiful species of Ponerinae in the environs of Austin, Texas, has induced me to undertake the following study of their habits.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Biological Bulletin, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint)