~m. VII.] ANTS. 119 



mules ; females, which have wings ; and neuters, 

 which are destitute of these appendages. 



" In the warm days which occur from the end of 

 July to the beginning- of September, and sometimes 

 later, the habitations of the various species of ants 

 may be seen swarming with winged insects ; these 

 are the males and females, preparing to quit forever 

 the scene of their nativity and education. Every 

 thing is in motion ; and the silver wings, contrasted 

 with the jet bodies which compose the animated 

 mass, add a degree of splendour to the interesting 

 scene. The bustle increases, till at leng-#i the males 

 rise, as it were, by general impulse into the air, and 

 th'e females accompany them : the whole swarm al- 

 ternately rises and falls with a slow movement, to 

 the height of about ten feet ; the males flying ob- 

 liquely with a rapid zigzag motion, and the females, 

 though following the general movement of the 

 column, appearing suspended in the air, like bal- 

 loons ; and having their heads turned towards the 

 wind. 1 ' 



Sometimes the swarm of a whole district unite 

 their infinite myriads, and seen at a distance, says 

 M. Gliditsch,* produce an effect very much resem- 

 bling an aurora borcalis, when from the border of 

 the cloud appear several columns of flame and va- 

 pour, attended with a variety of luminous rays and 



* A species of ant, called by Linnr.:us tlie formica sacchivora, ap- 

 peared in such torrents in the island of Granada, and destroyed the 

 sugar-canes so completely by undermining their roots, that a reward of 

 jE20,000 was offered to any one who should discover an effectual mode 

 of destroying them. 



They descended from the hills in a flood, and filled not only the plan- 

 tation, but the roads for miles. Domestic quadrupeds perished ; and 

 rats, mice, and reptiles, were devoured by them, and even birds were 

 so harassed when they alighted as quickly to die. Nothing opposed 

 their march : they blindly rushed into the streams and were drowned 

 in such countless myriads, that Die aggregation of their tiny carcasses 

 dammed up the waters, and formed a bridge fur others to pass over. 

 The large fires lighted in their paths were speedily extinguished by the 

 rush of their masses, and had not Providence swept them away in the 

 torrents of a terrible hurricane in 1780, every thing must have fallen 

 before them — Introduction to Entomology, vol. i. p. 185. 



