330 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



four or five to twenty males ; and there were hundreds thickly rushing over 

 the ground in search of females that were not to be found. The air was full 

 of them flying around, going off and returning; some of them, perhaps, just 

 arriving. 



When a female became satisfied with her numerous lovers, by a great and 

 violent effort she made shift to extricate herself from their rude embrace and 

 immediately fly away. After 4 P. M. they began rapidly to fly away, and in the 

 course of an hour they were all gone, leaving their disconsolate, exhausted 

 lovers, who made no effort to follow. Many of the males were already dead, 

 and a still greater number^Jay helpless on the ground ; but there were hundreds 

 of thousands who were still active, and they collected together in the horse- 

 tracks, cracks in the ground, and other places sheltered from the south wind, 

 which prevails at that season of the year, and becoming perfectly quiet, were, 

 at G P. M., lying still in heaps of from half a pint to a quart, sometimes more. 

 At this hour I examined the entire field, and there must have been very near, 

 if not quite, a bushel of the exhausted and dying male ants. 



A strong south wind was blowing during the time the females were flying off, 

 and the larger portion of them were drifted by the wind into the timbered lands 

 to the north ; many of them, however, succeeded in forcing their way a few 

 hundred yards against the wind, and alighting, which seemed to be the effect of 

 fatigue more than desire, they immediately, by writhing and doubling them- 

 selves in various ways, cast off their wings, which were no longer necessary, 

 and running rapidly till they found a' little clean spot of earth, went hurriedly to 

 work digging holes in the ground, which they accomplished with apparent ease 

 and considerable facility. They dig and bring out the dirt in considerable pel- 

 lets with their large caliper-like mandibles, carrying it not exceeding two inches 

 and dropping it in a circle around the hole they are making ; very soon they had 

 buried themselves out of sight. Two hours after they had commenced flying 

 away from their lovers, hundreds of holes, with a little circle of black dirt 

 around them, might be seen. In every clean-trodden piece of ground, and in 

 the roads and paths, these new tenements were thickly set long before sun- 

 down. 



Only one of these mother ants is necessary to start a kingdom. I saw no 

 instance where two of them were at work at the same hole. In some favorable 

 spot of ground there would be found a great many of them at work excavating 

 their holes, sometimes within a foot of each other. None seeiued to know that 

 any other ant was near. While one was out with a load of dirt, I placed a stick 

 in her hole ; returning, she did not know the place, and in searching around 

 soon found another one's hole, into which she immediately plunged. Very soon 

 the owner of the establishment pushed the intruder out, who made battle as 

 soon as they were fairly out on level ground. The conflict soon became despe- 

 rate, and after they had fought for the space of a minute or two the intruder 

 seemed to give way, and, extricating herself from her highly incensed antagonist, 

 plunged into the hole again ; the owner followed, and after some time succeed- 

 ed in dragging the invader out once more; and also, after a dire conflict, in put- 

 ting her to flight. The victor went to work again, but in the fight she had been 

 injured, as I noticed every time she came out with a load of dirt she would stop 

 awhile, and with one of her feet rub and fix something about her mouth. She 

 seemed to be in pain, and did not work so vigorously as before the fight. 



It would not do for many of these new queens to prove successful in building 

 up kingdoms. There is some antagonistic action to prevent it. The male and 

 female congress, I have attempted to describe above, happens two or three times 

 every year, arid should all the queens succeed in establishing colonies, they 

 would in a very few years occupy the entire surface of the earth. 



This species of ant and I think it obtains with the whole genus, like the hor- 

 net, wasp, yellow jacket, &c. do not go off from the old hive in swarms like the 

 bee, but a single mother ant, after congress with the males, goes off alone and 

 sets up for herself. She works very busily until she has raised 20 or 30 neuters 



[Nov. 



