WATSON'S CROSSING. 89 



Yorable position, I noticed, as tliey slowly crawled from 

 the ground up tlie blades of grass and stems of clover 

 and small w^eeds, that they seemed dazed, without any 

 method in their movements, save an ill-defined impres- 

 sion that they must go somewhere. Again, nearly every 

 one was pushed forward by those coming after it, which 

 seemed to add to its confusion. Every action plainly 

 indicated that they were wholly ill at ease. 



Once at the tip of a blade of grass, they seemed more 

 than ever puzzled as to what to do. If not followed by 

 a fellow-ant, they would invariably crawl down again 

 to the earth, and sometimes repeat this movement until 

 a new-comer followed in the ascent, when the bewilder- 

 ed individual would be forced to use his wings. This 

 flight w^ould be inaugurated by a very rapid buzzing of 

 the wings, as though to dry them, or prove their owner's 

 power over them. After a second's rest the violent 

 movement of the wings would recommence, and finally 

 losing fear, as it w^ere, the ant would let go its hold upon 

 the blade of grass and rise slowly upward. It could, in 

 fact, scarcely be called flight. The steady vibration of 

 the wings simply bore them upward, ten, twenty, or 

 thirty feet, until they were caught by a breeze, or by 

 the steadier wind that was moving at an elevation equal 

 to the height of the surrounding pine and spruce trees. 

 So far as I was able to discover, their wings were of the 

 same use to them in transporting them from their former 

 home that the "wings" of many seeds are in scattering 

 them, both being wholly at the mercy of the winds. 



Mr. Bates, in describing the habits of the Saiiba ants, 

 says : "The successful debut of the winged males and fe- 



