THE ROYAL MOTHER OF ANTS 



Thus the brief youth of the winged dependents of the 

 formicary is passed (as far as now appears) in idleness 

 and pleasure. But at length the time comes when they 

 must go forth from their native city, to return no more. 

 It would seem a sharp change and a most radical one; 

 but nature has prepared the adventurers for it. Com- 

 monly the marriage flight occurs during the summer or 

 early autumn. On a warm evening of a September day 

 one may see multitudes of newly exiled male and female 

 ants fluttering above the surface of the earth, the mass 

 rising and falling as the members weave to and fro as in 

 the mazes of a dance. Again, solitary winged females 

 may be seen rising from the foliage surrounding an open 

 formicary or from near-by plants, and flying away until 

 lost to sight, or until they drop to the ground, where 

 they may locate their "claim" for a new city. 



Strange stories have been written and told of the 

 immense nmnbers that escape in the swarming season 

 from myriads of ant-hills, darkening the air, and cover- 

 ing several inches thick the surface of rivers and lakes, 

 and even of the sea. Some accounts may be exaggerated ; 

 but enough facts are known, of which there is no doubt 

 at all, to justify belief of most of them. The author has 

 seen a swarm so vast as to shade the earth like a light 

 cloud, and details of far larger swarms will be given 

 in the next chapter. When one considers that these 

 myriatls of creatures are, up to this point, supported 

 wholly by the labor of the workers; and that in addi- 

 tion thereto the care and nurture of the numerous larvae ; 

 the excavating of galleries and rooms for the extension 

 of the community; defensive and sentinel duty, and 

 foraging for supplies, all are wrought by the same class 

 — he will quite unite with Solomon in holding up the 



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