84 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



large-sized insects that filled the air, and appeared to be 

 some unusual form of insect-life, judging of them from a 

 distance. On closer inspection these creatures proved to be 

 a brood of red ants (Formica) that had just emerged from 

 their under-ground home, and were now for the first time 

 using their delicate wings. The sky, at the time, was wholly 

 overcast ; the wind strong, south-east ; thermometer 66° 

 Fahr. Taking a favourable position near the mass, as they 

 slowly crawled from the ground up the blades of grass and 

 stems of clover and small weeds, we noticed, first, that they 

 seemed dazed, without any method in their movements, save 

 an ill-defined impression that they must go somewhere. 

 Again, they were pushed forward usually by those coming on 

 after them, which seemed to add to their confusion. As a 

 brood or colony of insects their every movement indicated 

 that they were wholly ill at ease. Once at the end of a 

 blade of grass, they seemed even more puzzled as to what to 

 do. If not followed by a fellow ant, as was usually the case, 

 they would invariably crawl down again to the earth, and 

 sometimes repeat this movement until a new comer followed 

 in the ascent, when the uncertain individual would be forced 

 to use his wings. This flight would be inaugurated by a very 

 rapid buzzing of the wings, as though to dry them, or prove 

 their owner's power over them ; but which, it is difficult to 

 say. After a short rest the violent movement of the wings 

 would recommence, and finally losing fear, as it were, the ant 

 would let go his hold upon the blade of grass and rise slowly 

 upwards. It could, in fact, scarcely be called flight. The 

 steady vibration of the wings simply bore them upwards, ten, 

 twenty, or thirty feet, until they wei'e caught by a breeze, or 

 by the steadier wind that was moving at an elevation equal 

 to the height of the surrounding pine and spruce trees. So 

 far as we were able to discover, their wings were of the same 

 use to them, in transporting them from their former home, 

 that the "wings" of many seeds are, — in scattering them; 

 both are wholly at the mercy of the winds. Mr. Bales, in 

 describing the habits of the Saiiba ants (CEcodoma cephalotes), 

 says (' Naturalist on the River Amazons,' vol. i, p. 82) : — 

 " The successful dehiit of the winged males and females 

 depends likewise on the workers. It is amusing to see the 

 activity and excitement which reign in an ant's nest when the 



