PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 103 



time, it was let go in a friendly manner, and received 

 no personal injury. This amusement, or whatever title 

 you please to give it, is often repeated, particularly 

 amongst the hill-ants, who are very fond of this sportive 

 exercise^'." A nest of ants which Bonnet found in the 

 head of a teazle, when enjoying the full sun, which 

 seems the acme of formic felicity, amused themselves 

 with carrying each other on their backs, the rider hold- 

 ing with his mandibles the neck of his horse, and em- 

 bracing it closely with his legs**. But the most circum- 

 stantial account of their sports is given by Huber. " I 

 approached one day," says he, " one of their formicaries 

 (he is speaking of F. ritfa) exposed to the sun and 

 sheltered from the north. The ants were heaped to- 

 gether in great numbers, and seemed to enjoy the tem- 

 perature which they experienced at the surface of the 

 nest. None of them were working: this multitude of 

 accumulated insects exhibited the appearance of a boil- 

 ing fluid, upon which at first the eye could scarce fix 

 itself without difficulty. But when I set myself to fol- 

 low each ant separately, I saw them approach each 

 other, moving their antennae with astonishing rapidity; 

 with their fore-feet they patted lightly the cheeks of 

 other ants : after these first gestures, which resembled 

 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- 



! Could, 102— ? Bonnet, ii. 40T. 



