FECUNDATION OF ANTS. 181 
in which all the individuals of the ant- 
hill take an active part: it is destined to _ 
favour the rencontre and union of the 
sexes. Ihave often seen, in those nu- 
merous gatherings, females retained by 
the workers, mutilated in my presence, 
and carried back to the interior of the 
trunk; and, although I have not surprised 
them in their embraces, I have no doubt 
their imprisonment took its origin from ~ 
their fecundation, which I conjecture 
must have taken place, from the other 
ants remaining perfectly free, from ana- 
logy with those ants of which I have be- 
fore spoken, and from my having several 
times seen the males follow the females 
to the surface of the tree. 
We .see, then, that this numerous 
cortége of labourers, which we have often 
observed, without knowing their purport, 
is not a homage they render the winged 
ants, but is destined to favour the seizure 
of those females whose impregnation 
takes place upon the very nest. 
The females that become prisoners 
c 6 
