ANT QUEENS 



Mountains southwest of the town. They came in 

 "swarms so thick that one could hardly see through 

 them." They struck the buikling at a height of about 

 one hundred and twenty or one hundred and twenty-five 

 feet, and "assaulted" the men. Whether the attack 

 was a bite or sting they could not tell, but it was some- 

 thing uncomfortable. The ants were of two sizes, some 

 larger, some smaller. One of the men had saved speci- 

 mens which proved to be males and females of Myrmica 

 lobicornis Nylander. This species can inflict a painful 

 sting; but the ants probably attacked the workmen 

 simply in self-defence — that is, the men happened to 

 obstruct their flight, and vigorously brushed off the 

 insects that lit upon them, which in turn becoming irate, 

 the females applied their stings. Such a vast horde as 

 this swarm contained must have been composed of the 

 winged inmates of many formicaries on the mountain- 

 side. 



A similar account was given me in 1884 by Mr. B. S. 

 Russell, of the rufous or thatching ant (Formica rufa 

 var. Americana), whose nests then occupied the rolling 

 prairie country lying between the Cheyenne and the 

 James River, in Dakota. The ants appear in the spring, 

 with the first vegetation, and by hay-harvest, the latter 

 part of July, the flying ants are seen. The swarms are 

 very annoying to the inhabitants. A person driving or 

 riding over the prairie will find himself suddenly in the 

 midst of one of these hosts. The insects settle upon the 

 body, and creep into the openings of the clothes. A 

 swarm settled upon the house which my informant was 

 then building, and the carpenters were compelled to 

 leave it while in the act of shingling the roof. In the 

 hay-field, the harvesters are often obliged to stop to 



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