848 ants' nests. 



winged, and a male, usually winged, differing extremely from each 

 other in the whole structure of their bodies, but also of other 

 individuals without wings, which are offspring of the female sex, 

 and are called •' workers." The division, however, goes still 

 further in certain species, the "worker" caste being subdivided 

 into two kinds, differing greatly in their physical structure — 

 " workers " and " soldiers." Between these there are species with 

 intermittent workers^ the largest of which resemble the " soldiers " ; 

 that is, form a phylogenetic precursor to the " soldiers." 



Most of the female and male ants are winged, and copulate in 

 the air or in the tops of trees ; but at least one of the sexes is 

 always winged. The new colonies are almost invariably founded 

 by a pregnant female, or by several such, as has already been 

 stated by Huber, and has been clearly proved in recent years by 

 Mc.Cook, Lubbock, Blochmann, and others. These females live 

 many years (eight to twelve years, according to Lubbock's experi- 

 ments), and always remain prolific without renewed copulation. 

 They are the mothers of the whole so-called ant colony, which, 

 consequently, lasts many years, and does not die out annually like 

 the wasp colony. It follows from the facts stated that the ants 

 must have permanent nests, and that these nests must display 

 great variety, both of which inferences are correct. 



The ants have, moreover, the peculiarity of changing their 

 abode from time to time in order to move to a new one. They 

 understand how to change their dwelling and how to build new 

 ones. 



Many species of ants understand likewise how to colonise ; 

 that is, how to build new nests at a certain distance from their 

 dwellings without leaving their old nest. It is in this way that 

 mighty colonies, with numerous nests, are founded, resembling, to 

 use Ruber's words, the cities of one and the same empire. I have 

 counted as many as two hundred immense nests standing close 

 together in our European Formica exsecta^ Nyl.. and Mc.Cook has 

 counted as many as sixteen hundred still larger nests of one and 

 the same colony of Formica exsectoides, Forel, in the Alleghanies 

 of North America. These latter ant kingdoms have, in all prob- 

 ability, a population of 200,000,000 to 400,000,000 inhabitants, 

 all forming a single community, and living together in active and 



