The sub-family includes 800 or more species. _Camponotus_ itself is one of the most numerous in species of all the genera of Formicidae, and is distributed over most parts of the earth. We have no species of it in Britain, but in the south of Europe the _Camponotus_ become very conspicuous, and may be seen almost everywhere stalking about, after the fashion of our British wood-ant, _Formica rufa_, which in general appearance _Camponotus_ much resembles. Until recently, the manner in which fresh nests of ants were founded was unknown. In established nests the queen-ant is fed and tended by the workers, and the care of the helpless larvae and pupae also devolves entirely on the workers, so that the queens are relieved of all functions except that of producing eggs. It seemed therefore impossible that a fresh nest could be established by a single female ant unless she were assisted by workers. The mode in which nests are founded has, however, been recently demonstrated by the observations of Lubbock, M‘Cook, Adlerz, and more particularly by those of Blochmann, who was successful in observing the formation of new nests by _Camponotus ligniperdus_ at Heidelberg. He found under stones in the spring many examples of females, either solitary or accompanied only by a few eggs, larvae or pupae. Further, he was successful in getting isolated females to commence nesting in confinement, and observed that the ant that afterwards becomes the queen, at first carries out by herself all the duties of the nest: beginning by making a small burrow, she lays some eggs, and when these hatch, feeds and tends the larvae and pupae; the first specimens of these {146}latter that become perfect Insects are workers of all sizes, and at once undertake the duties of tending the young and feeding the mother, who, being thus freed from the duties of nursing and of providing food while she is herself tended and fed, becomes a true queen-ant. Thus it seems established that in the case of this species the division of labour found in the complex community, does not at first exist, but is correlative with increasing numbers of the society. Further observations as to the growth of one of these nascent communities, and the times and conditions under which the various forms of individuals composing a complete society first appear, would be of considerable interest. An American species of the same genus, _C. pennsylvanicus_, the carpenter-ant, establishes its nests in the stumps of trees. Leidy observed that solitary females constructed for themselves cells in the wood and closed the entrances, and that each one in its solitary confinement reared a small brood of larvae. The first young produced in this case are said to be of the dwarf caste, and it was thought by the observer that the ant remained not only without assistance but also without food during a period of some weeks, and this although she was herself giving food to the larvae she was rearing.