ANT LIFE. 155 



insects, conspicuous by their wings and large propor- 

 tionate size. They are curiously helpless, and seem quite 

 bewildered at being exposed to the light. All they can 

 do is to crawl slowly under cover, but, unless they are 

 led by the workers, they seem- incapable even of dis- 

 covering the open passages leading to the interior of the 

 nest. 



Suddenly, urged by an irrepressible instinct, the 

 winged ants of both sexes issue from the nest and 

 take to the air. They have but small powers of flight, 

 and can make no way against a breeze, with which they 

 drift as helplessly as do the locusts. 



Sometimes, as in the case recorded by Mr. Smith, their 

 numbers are incalculably large, and if all that rise from 

 the earth were to descend in safety and found new 

 colonies, the ants would soon render the country un- 

 inhabitable by man. 



But, just as in the great yellow pollen clouds which 

 may be seen drifting from the Scotch fir, only a com- 

 paratively few grains are needed for their important 

 office, so out of these ant clouds only a very few pairs 

 survive. They are eaten in vast quantities by birds, but 

 the greater number are driven by the wind into the 

 water, and there perish. 



The object of their flight is the same as with the queen 

 bees, i.e. to meet their mates in the air; and even on the 

 most favourable days, when there is warm sunshine and 

 little or no wind, the flight is but a short one. 



Those that descend in safety run about for a minute 



