126 FECUNDATION OF ANTS. 
and even pinched me more strongly than 
the labourers: they knew, also, how to 
follow and catch the flies I introduced 
into their nest; and did it with much 
promptitude and dexterity : but they did 
not lose their wings, netwithstanding the 
long proof to which I subjected them. 
At another time, I placed several fe- 
male virgins of the species of Brown Ants, 
with a portion of their nest, under a bell- 
glass. ‘They remained there peaceably 
without taking up the choleric disposition 
of the preceding; but these also preserved 
their wings. 
I also placed ten other ants, equally 
virgins, in a vase, where I left them six 
weeks. During this long captivity, they 
did not even attempt to dispossess them- 
selves of these members, which were still 
left to fulfil the object of their destina- 
tion. * 
* I kept in captivity, upwards of a month, four 
female ants, two of the Yellow and two of the Brown 
species: they still retained their wings. ‘These 
members would seem to be employed on no other 
occasion than when they seek the males in the air, 
