104 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



1 roach each other, moving their antennae with astonish- 

 ing rapidity ; with their fore-feet they patted lightly the 

 cheeks of other ants : after these first gestures, which re- 

 sembled caresses, they reared upon their hind-legs by 

 pairs, they wrestled together, they seized one another by 

 a mandible, by a leg or an antenna, they then let go 

 their hold to renew the attack ; they fixed themselves to 

 each other's trunk or abdomen, they embraced, they 

 turned each other over, or lifted each other up by turns 

 they soon quitted the ants they had seized, and en- 

 deavoured to catch others : I have seen some who en- 

 gaged in these exercises with such eagerness, as to pur- 

 sue successively several workers; and the combat did 

 not terminate till the least animated, having thrown his 

 antagonist, accomplished his escape by concealing him- 

 self in some gallery^." He compares these sports to 

 the gambols of two puppies, and tells us that he not only 

 often observed them in this nest, but also in his artificial 

 one. 



I shall here copy for you a memorandum I formerly 

 made. " On the ninth of May, at half-past two, as I 

 was walking on the Plumstead road near Norwich, on 

 a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants {Formi- 

 ca Jiisca) agglomerated in crowds near the entrances of 

 their nest. They seemed to make no long excursions, 

 as if intent upon enjoying the sun-shine at home ; but 

 all the while they were coursing about, and appeared to 

 accost each other with their antennae. Examining them 

 very attentively, I at length saw one dragging another, 

 which it absolutely lifted up by its antennae, and carry- 

 ing it in the air. I followed it with my eye, till it con- 

 » Huber, 170— 



