338 C. H. TURNER 



and neuters were constantly ascending and descending. To 

 watch the agitated promenading of these restless ants up and 

 down the stem, was to be convinced that these activities of the 

 unmated females and of the neuters were not merely a tropism. 

 Evidently the physiological changes caused by the maturing of 

 the sexual powers had initiated a restless meandering. 



I am not certain how the behavior of the males should be 

 interpreted. The leaves of the grapevine and the tops of other 

 uprights were black with them. The stem of the vine supported 

 countless numbers of them; but my attention was so completely 

 concentrated upon the movements of the females and neuters 

 that I did not notice whether the males were moving ever up- 

 wards or to and fro. 



The concentration of attention upon the virgin females was 

 for the purpose of observing every detail of their mating behavior. 

 Several females were watched from the time they left the nest 

 until they flew away. Both on the ground and on the grapevine, 

 they roamed in and out among the males, jostling them to the 

 right and to the left, without stimulating the least response. 

 One is warranted, then, in concluding, with previous writers, 

 that the mating of this species does not occur, normally, either 

 on the ground or on some support. 



While watching the females promenade to and fro upon the 

 grapevine, numerous males and a few females flew away from 

 the nest. When I had fully satisfied myself that mating occurred 

 neither 'on the ground nor on a support, I arose and looked about 

 me. For fifteen to twenty feet above the ground, the air was 

 thick with the minute, gnat-like, males of this species. Not 

 only the atmosphere above my yard, but that above all of the 

 yards of the vicinity was alive with these miniature creatures, 

 for the males of all of the Lasius nests of the city were having 

 an aerial dance. They rose and fell, swerved to first one side and 

 then to the other, occasionally they alighted on the ground, 

 and, after a short rest, unless captured by the foraging ants 

 of another genera, arose and repeated over and over again the 

 maneuvers — thus they performed the prenuptial dance of the 

 species, and all of the participants were males. 



From time to time lone virgin females appeared in the midst 

 of the dancing bachelors. Starting near the ground, such a 

 female would corkscrew upwards, sometimes vertically, some- 



