346 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



But they have not only their time for repose ; they also devote some 

 to relaxation, during which they amuse themselves with sports and games. 

 " You may frequently perceive one of these ants (F. rufa) (says our Gould) 

 run to and fro with a fellow-labourer in his forceps, of the same species 

 and colony. It appeared first in the light of provisions ; but I was soon 

 undeceived by observing that after being carried for some time it was let 

 go in a friendly manner, and received no personal injury. This amuse- 

 ment, or whatever title you please to give it, is often repeated, particularly 

 amongst the hill-ants, who are very fond of this sportive exercise." * A 

 nest of ants which Bonnet found in the head of a teazle, when enjoying the 

 full sun, which seems the acme of formic felicity, amused themselves with 

 carrying each other on their backs, the rider holding with his mandibles 

 the neck of his horse, and embracing it closely with its legs. 2 But the 

 most circumstantial account of their sports is given by Huber. " I ap- 

 proached' one day," says he, " one of their formicaries (he is speaking of 

 F. rufa) exposed to the sun and sheltered from the north. The ants were 

 heaped together in great numbers, and seemed to enjoy the temperature 

 which they experienced at the surface of the nest. None of them were 

 working: this multitude of accumulated insects exhibited the appearance 

 of a boiling fluid, upon which at first the eye could scarce fix itself with- 

 out difficulty. But when I set myself to follow each ant separately, I saw 

 them approach each other, moving their antennas 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 

 by pairs ; they wrestled together; they seized one another by a mandible, 

 by a leg or an antenna ; they then let go their hold to renew the attack ; 

 they fixed themselves to each other's trunk or abdomen ; they embraced ; 

 they turned each other over, or lifted each other up by turns they soon 

 quitted the ants they had seized, and endeavoured to catch others. I have 

 seen some who engaged in these exercises with such eagerness, as to pur- 

 sue successively 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." 3 He compares 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. 



I shall here copy for you a memorandum I formerly made. " On the 9th 

 of May, at. half past two, as I was walking on the Plumstead road near 

 Norwich, on a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants ( Formica fusca) 

 agglomerated in crowds near the entrances of their nest. They seemed to 

 make no long excursions, 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. Examining them very attentively, I at length 

 saw one dragging another, which it absolutely lifted up by its antennae, and 

 carrying it in the air. I followed it with my eye, till it concealed itself and 

 its antagonist in the nest. I soon noticed another that had recourse to 

 the same manoeuvres ; but in this instance the ant that was attacked re- 

 sisted manfully, a third sometimes appearing inclined to interfere: the 

 result was, that this also was dragged in. A third was haled 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 



Gould, 103 * Bonnet, ii. 407. Huber, 170. 



