296 ANIMAL LIFE 



successive days this wonderful exodus or swarming 

 will proceed. In loose order this cloud will drift over 

 the countryside, harassed in the air by swallows and 

 other birds, and by larger ants on the ground. What 

 the fate of these swarms may be is imperfectly 

 ascertained. The males probably die immediately, 

 but ttiose females that escape the ravages of foes and 

 of accidents are probably either annexed by some 

 wandering workers of the same species or set up 

 new colonies without aid. Some appear to do this 

 at once, and others not until the following spring. 



After the swarming of the males and females from 

 each nest the workers are left with a small store of 

 pupae, and it is probable that from these the new queens 

 are developed, somewhat as in hives after the departure 

 of a swarm with the old queen. But among ants, as 

 several queens are allowed to reign simultaneously, 

 there is no combat between the first new queen and 

 her rivals. Moreover, in some cases a queen will 

 remain for many years in the same nest, active to the 

 last. The best established instance of this longevity 

 was that of a queen kept by Lord Avebury, which 

 lived to be fifteen years old. That is as long as a 

 dog, and three times as long as the oldest known bee 

 queen. 



The long life of the queen would not, however, prove 

 that the colony persisted. The workers of a beehive 

 rarely survive more than one summer, but the colony 

 survives the winter by replacement of moribund by 

 new workers, by the elaborate and largely artificial 



