THE YELLOW ANT. 49 



plant in the vicinity of their nest, and the labourers (for 

 now the entire population of the nest has turned out) ac- 

 company them as closely as possible, following them to 

 the extreme tip of every blade of grass, and when at length 

 those possessed of wings spread them in preparation for 

 flight, the labourers will often hold them back, as if loath 

 to trust them alone, or desirous of sharing the perils of their 

 trackless course. If the temperature is unfavourable, either 

 from cold or wet, at the period of the grand autumnal pro- 

 duction of winged ants, they remain in the nest for several 

 days, until a favorable change in the weather takes place, 

 when the labourers open all the avenues to the exterior, 

 and the winged multitude passes forth at the portals in glit- 

 tering and iridescent panoply. When the air is warm and 

 still they rise in thousands, and sailing, or rather floating 

 on the atmosphere, leave for ever the scene of then: former 

 existence. 



Myriads of these flying ants, attracted by the brilliant 

 surface of water illumined by an autumnal sun, rush into 

 the fatal current and are seen no more : myriads are de- 

 voured by birds, and but a small proportion of the immense 

 swarm which left the nest escapes and lives to found new 

 colonies. 



Each female, immediately on alighting from her aerial 

 voyage, examines the situation in which chance has placed 

 her, and if she find it adapted to her purpose she turns 

 her head back over her shoulders, and with her sharp man- 

 dibles shears off the wings which bore her from the place 

 of her nativity. Strange as this propensity may seem, it 

 is dictated by an unerring instinct, for the object for which 

 wings were given her is now accomplished, and henceforth 

 they would prove an incumbrance, and retard, rather than 

 assist, the performance of her duties. Sometimes a few 

 workers, wandering at this period of excitement far from 



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