314 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. X* 



falls, with a slow movement,, to the height of about 

 ten feet ; the males fly obliquely, with a rapid zigzag 

 motion, while the females, though they follow the 

 general movement of the column, appear suspended 

 in the air like balloons, seemingly with no individual 

 motion, and having their heads turned towards the 

 wind. Sometimes the swarms of a whole district unite 

 in myriads ; and, seen at a distance, produce an effect 

 resembling the aurora borealis. Rising with incre- 

 dible velocity in distinct columns, they soar above the 

 clouds," and they are dispersed by the slightest zephyr. 

 The females continue majestically sailing in the centre 

 of these numberless males ; each successively selects 

 his partner, and the nuptials are consummated in mid- 

 air. After this dance of love is celebrated, the males 

 disappear, probably dying, or becoming food to other 

 creatures ; certain it is, they never return to their nests. 

 This, also, is the fate of many females, for they lose 

 their wings and fall to the ground ; such, however, as 

 escape, become the founders of new colonies, some 

 making for themselves a single cell, while others join 

 their labours in constructing a larger one in common. 

 Such is the foundation and first establishment of those 

 populous societies of ants, which comprehend millions 

 of individuals. 



(319-) The history of such females as outlive the 

 period of their nuptials may be thus briefly stated. 

 The majority, indeed, emerge in their winged state, as 

 already described ; but many remain, not from choice, 

 but by constraint. The instinct of the labourers teaches 

 them that the very existence of the community would 

 cease, if it was left without mothers to produce a new 

 generation ; they therefore forcibly detain some that 

 have been impregnated in or near the nest, by pulling 

 off their wings, and compelling others to return into 

 the nest, before they had time to join the party already 

 mounted in the air. This force, however, is not 

 exerted so as to produce the least injury to the females ; 

 for no sooner are they again conducted into the interior 



