FECUNDATION OF ANTS. 99 
brown, ornamented with orange-coloured 
spots; the wings are transparent and 
blackish at their extremities. 
It is requisite that the temperature of 
the air should be at the 15° or 16° of 
Reaumur (67° Fahrenheit), to allow of 
our witnessing the departure of the 
males and females: unless this be the 
case, they continue within the nest, shel- 
tered from the wet and the cold air. 
When the weather is favourable, the la. 
bourers, who seem to be aware of it, 
form several apertures in the ant-hill, to 
give a ready passage to the crowd that 
are about to quit it. The males and fe- 
males may be then seen coming to take 
the air at the entrance. The hour of de- 
parture arrives: they all take flight. 
The workers alone re-enter the nest, and 
close the entrances. 
But let us continue our course, and 
still follow the winged ants in their flight. 
A shower of these insects soon arrests the 
attention. They fall from some height 
in the air, by pairs, roll themselves in 
F2 
