SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



85 



males and mothers of the social ants are winged insects ; 

 but this fact becomes impressive if in fine summer 

 weather we are fortunate enough to see the males and 

 young queens leaving the nest in the nuptial flight, during 

 which fertilisation takes place. Rising in the air they 

 glitter like sparks, pale into curling smoke, and vanish. 

 ' Sometimes the swarms of a whole district have been 

 noticed to unite their countless myriads, and, seen at a 

 distance, produce an effect resembling the flashing of the 



^Z^M.MW^IiMf^ 



FIG. 23. SACBA ANTS AT \VORK. 



To the left below, an ordinary worker; to the right, a large-headed 

 worker ; above, a subterranean worker. 



(From Bates.) 



Aurora Borcalis ; sometimes the effect is that of rainbow 

 hues in the spray of laughing waterfalls ; sometimes that 

 of fire ; sometimes that of a smoke- wreath." " Each 

 column looks like a kind of slender network, and has a 

 tremulous undulating motion. The noise emitted by 

 myriads and myriads of these creatures does not ex- 

 ceed the hum of a single wasp. The slightest zephyr 

 disperses them." After this midsummer day's delight 

 of love, death awaits many, and sometimes most. The 

 males are at best short-lived, but the surviving queens, 

 settling down, may begin to form nests, gathering a troop 

 of workers, or sometimes proceeding alone to found a 

 colony. 



