The instinct of animosity and tolerance in queen Polistes wasps.

Abstract

In a series of expts. using queen wasps the author found substantiation for an earlier assumption he made from studies of workers, namely that the spirit of animosity and tolerance is an instinctive act. The following results were obtained: (1) Pallipes queens attacked queens of alien sp. but usually showed tolerance toward queens of their own sp., (2) the individual reactions show that solid as the instinct is, there is much variability in the way in which it is manifested. The author holds that the manifestation of tolerance toward those of the same sp. is related to the stage in the development of the maternal interests, animosity developing after the larvae become important in both size and number.