84 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
large-sized insects that filled the air, and appeared to be 
some unusual form of insect-life, judging of them from a 
distance. On closer inspection these creatures proved to be 
a brood of red ants (Formica) that had just emerged from 
their under-ground home, and were now for the first time 
using their delicate wings. The sky, at the time, was wholly 
overcast; the wind strong, south-east; thermometer 66° 
Fahr. Taking a favourable position near the mass, as they 
slowly crawled from the ground up the blades of grass and 
stems of clover and small weeds, we noticed, first, that they 
seemed dazed, without any method in their movements, save 
an ill-defined impression that they must go somewhere. 
Again, they were pushed forward usually by those coming on 
after them, which seemed to add to their confusion. As a 
brood or colony of insects their every movement indicated 
that they were wholly ill at ease. Once at the end of a 
blade of grass, they seemed even more puzzled as to what to 
do. If not followed by a fellow ant, as was usually the case, 
they would invariably crawl down again to the earth, and 
sometimes repeat this movement until a new comer followed 
in the ascent, when the wncertain individual would be forced 
to use his wings. This flight would be inaugurated by a very 
rapid buzzing of the wings, as though to dry them, or prove 
their owner’s power over them; but which, it is difficult to 
say. After a short rest the violent movement of the wings 
would recommence, and finally losing fear, as it were, the ant 
would let go his hold upon the blade of grass and rise slowly 
upwards. It could, in fact, scarcely be called flight. The 
steady vibration of the wings simply bore them upwards, 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 we were 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 are wholly at the mercy of the winds. Mr. Bates, in 
describing the habits of the Saiiba ants (Gicodoma cephalotes), 
says (‘Naturalist on the River Amazons,’ vol. i. p. 82) :— 
“The successful débit of the winged males and females 
depends likewise on the workers. It is amusing to see the 
activity and excitement which reign in an ant’s nest when the 
