Pulsatilla - a flower derivative - and phytolacca americana were prescribed for the arthritic condition, together with formica rufa - derived from red ants - injections into her limbs.
Separation of broods into sexual or worker cohorts is distinctly present in most temporarily parasitic species of the Formica rufa group, but broods overlap in species of the exsecta group and the sanguinea group (Pamilo and Rosengren, 1983).
The formicine temporary parasites (Acanthomyops, Formica rufa group and exsecta group, and Lasius umbratus group) are often common and in the case of Formica can be the most abundant and dominant species in many boreal forests (Pamilo and Rosengren, 1984; Savolainen and Vepsalainen, 1998; Holldobler and Wilson, 1990).