FECUNDATION OF ANTS, 118 
passed, I saw the earth strewed with fe- 
males without wings. ‘They were most 
likely the identical females I had seen 
traversing the air. ‘They were of the 
same species and colour as the first. I 
had not quitted the place in which 
the ants had alighted. Some still re- 
tained their wings; it was, therefore, an 
easy matter to compare them. 
On my return home, I placed my 
eight prisoners, with some moistened 
earth, in a garden vase, covered with a 
glass receiver. It was nine o’clock in 
the evening; at ten all the females had 
lost their wings, which I observed scat- 
tered here and there, and had _ hidden 
themselves under the earth. I had al- 
lowed the occasion to pass by, of wit- 
nessing the separation of these fragile 
members, and of determining, if pos- 
sible, what had produced it. 
On the following day, I procured 
three other females in union with their 
males, and this time I observed them 
with the greatest attention, from the mo- 
ment of their fecundation, until nine in 
