120 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. VII 



lines, resembling- forked lightning confined in its 

 brilliancy. The noise emitted by the countless 

 myriads of these creatures is not so loud as the hum 

 of a single wasp, and the slightest breath scatters 

 them abroad. In the midst of these numberless 

 males the females become fecundated, and the 

 greater portion of the former sex immediately pe- 

 rishing, become the food of birds or of fish. So 

 numerous are they, that Dr. Bromley says they 

 formed a column on the water where they had fallen, 

 five or six miles long, eight or ten feet broad, and 

 six inches deep. 



The females which escape are destined to found 

 new colonies, and at first to do all the work of 

 neuters ; in this particular resembling the mother 

 wasp : but prior to their constructing a new habi- 

 tation, they make themselves voluntary prisoners, 

 by throwing off" their wings. So extraordinary a 

 dismemberment requires to be supported by the tes- 

 timony of an eye-witness. 



Accordingly, Huber, who made the experiment, 

 states, "that having induced an ant to mount a 

 straw, he placed it on a table sprinkled with a little 

 earth, and covered it with a glass bell ; scarcely did 

 she perceive the earth which covered the bottom 

 of her abode, when she extended her wings, with 

 some effort bringing them before her head, crossing 

 them in every direction, throwing them from side 

 to side, and producing so many singular contortions, 

 that her four wings fell off" at the same moment, in 

 his presence. After this change, she reposed, 

 brushed her corslet, traversed the ground, evidently 

 seeking a place of shelter; she partook of the 

 honey he gave her, and at last found a hiding-place 

 imder some loose earth." 



Huber might well be astonished at the coolness 

 with which the female ant appeared to throw off 

 her wings : one would have thought that as much 

 proportionate suffering would have been felt in her 



