CHAP. X. SPORTS AND PASTIMES OP ANTS. 347 



saw them approach each other, moving their antennae 

 with astonishing rapidity ; with their fore feet they 

 patted lightly the cheeks of other ants. After these 

 first gestures, which resembled caresses, they reared 

 upon their hind legs hy pairs; they wrestled together; 

 fhey seized one another by a mandible, by a leg, or an 

 antenna, and then let go their hold to renew the attack ; 

 they fixed themselves on each other's trunk or abdo- 

 men ; they embraced, they turned each other over, or 

 lifted each other up by turns, and then, quitting the 

 ants they had seized, endeavoured to catch others. I 

 have seen some who engaged in these exercises with 

 such eagerness, as to pursue successfully several workers ; 

 and the combat did not terminate till the least animated, 

 having thrown his antagonist, accomplished his escape 

 by concealing himself in some gallery." Huber com- 

 pares these sports to the gambols of two puppies, and 

 tells us that he not only often observed them in this 

 nest, but also in his artificial one. Mr. Spence gives 

 us the following interesting account, as having been 

 witnessed by himself: " Near Norwich, on a sunny 

 day in May, I observed a large number of ants (For- 

 mica fused) agglomerated in crowds near the entrance 

 of their nest. They seemed to make no long ex- 

 cursions, as if intent upon enjoying the sunshine at 

 home ; but all the while they were coursing about, and 

 appeared to accost each other with their antennae. Ex- 

 amining them very attentively, I at length saw one 

 dragging another, which it absolutely lifted up by its 

 antennae, and carried in the air. I followed it with 

 my eye until it concealed itself and its antagonist (or 

 rather playfellow) in the nest. I soon noticed another, 

 that had recourse to the same manoeuvres ; but, in this 

 instance, the ant that was attacked, resisted manfully, 

 while a third was inclined to interfere : the result was, 

 that this also was dragged in. A third was drawn in 

 by its legs, and a fourth by its mandibles. What was 

 the precise object of these proceedings, whether sport 

 or violence, I could not ascertain. I walked the same 



