158 RELATION BETWEEN ANTS. 
This I have denominated migration, the 
term colony offering no sufficiently just 
idea, since we do not speak, in this in- 
stance, of a portion of the metropolis, but 
of a whole nation removing to a new city. 
However, I shall occasionally employ it 
under the same acceptation. Do ants 
determine upon the propriety of remov- 
ing to another abode after general deli- 
beration?. How do they appoint the 
place of rendezvous, and the day of de- 
parture? These questions, and the facts 
connected with them, have hitherto 
escaped the attention of naturalists ; 
although several (Bonnet, Latreille, 
Bomare) have sufficiently spoken of a 
practice common enough among ants, — 
that of their carrying each other; yet 
they were ignorant if they should attri- 
bute this conduct to the sickness, infancy, 
or old age of those ants that were borne 
by their companions. 
I was equally ignorant of their inten- 
tion in this respect; but having one day 
deranged the habitation of a colony of 
17* 
