THE COURTSHIP OF INSECTS 261 



up into the sky, and the drones give chase. Their huge 

 eyes enable tiiem to forestall the swervings of their quarry, 

 while they are "gifted with a prodigious capacity for 

 catching the magnetic queen-perfume by the thousands 

 of sensory pits on their antennas." Mating is accomplished 

 in mid-air ; one drone —presumably the swiftest and 

 most alert — becomes the royal consort, perishing even 

 as he triumphs. The widowed queen returns to her 

 expectant subjects. As for the mob of unsuccessful 

 drones, they will still be tolerated by the community 

 if the year be young; but at the close of the summer, 

 when their services can no longer be called for, they are 

 ruthlessly driven from the hive and allowed to die. 



So far as is known, the courtship of social wasps and 

 humble-bees proceeds upon more conventional lines ; but 

 in the case of ants, whose communities continue from 

 year to year, the males and females come forth in myriads 

 from the nests at an appointed time — usually a still, hot 

 day in August — leaving the workers behind them. But 

 as the males are approximately equal to the females in 

 number, the finding of partners must be a relatively 

 simple matter. The males soon die after the nuptial 

 flight, but such of the fertilised females as may escape 

 destruction by insectivorous creatures cast their wings and 

 become the foundresses of new colonies. 



