NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



the community, who feed them just as they do the baby 

 ants or larvse. They remain within the home nest until 

 nature, with vigilant concern to perpetuate the race, 

 prompts to the swarming or "marriage flight." Usually 

 the workers assist nature. One may see males and 

 females being driven out of the nest and from the sur- 

 rounding herbage by squads of workers, who pinch them 

 with their jaws, and otherwise give them notice that 

 their room is held to be better than their company. 



During their nonage these winged members of the 

 formicary lead a lazy and merry life. While studying 

 the habits of the Agricultural ant of Texas, the author 

 saw some of them enjoying an outing upon the large 

 circular pavement or plaza which surrounded the cen- 

 tral gates of an immense formicary. Their visits to the 

 outer air were not frequent; but they were plainly made 

 for exercise and the benefit of the sunshine. One female 

 was seen swinging, with evident gusto, upon a grass- 

 stalk, not unlike a youth on a turning-bar. 



On another plaza a bunch of young queens were 

 having a joint outing, a sort of picnic which they heartily 

 enjoyed. A large pebble near the gate was the chief 

 sporting-ground. This they would ascend, and facing 

 the wind, would sit erect upon their hind legs, taking as 

 veritable a rampant posture as any heraldist could wish. 

 Several of the queenlings would climb up the stone at 

 one time; and then ensued a playful passage at arms for 

 position. They pinched one another with their man- 

 dibles and chased one another from favorite spots. One 

 was reminded of a group of boys sparring for place upon 

 a big rock, or a bevy of girls in a game of " tag." So 

 universal and natural is the impulse to play among the 

 young of all living creatures, from an ant to man. 



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