130 FECUNDATION OF ANTS. 
It ismore especially with the Fuliginous 
Ants, that we can the more readily ob- 
serve this proceeding, since the depar- 
ture of the winged individuals of that 
species does not take place for a very 
considerable period ; previous to which 
the male and female insects go out each 
day from their labyrinths, from two or 
three o’clock in the evening, until the 
middle of night, walking along the trunk 
of the tree they inhabit. ‘The move- 
ment of those insects whom the labour- 
ers lead out of the nest, progressively 
increases, and resembles a national féte, 
ur 
which were in considerable number. What was 
my surprise, to observe, at length, a mass of eggs 
apparently just laid, which the workers, on my dis- 
turbing their abode, carried off with amazing ex- 
pedition. It does not seem likely that any female, 
after her excursion in the air, should have alighted 
on their dwelling, since they generally go and 
found new colonies. It is more probable this was 
one of the females born in the nest, and, at the 
time of the males and females taking their depar- 
ture, had been retained by the workers, in one 
of the lower apartments, for the sake of maintain- 
ing its population. ey 
YA 
