352 OBSERVATIONS ON 



themselves, do boys, by way of play, carry heavy weights 

 by only a piece of wet leather at the end of a string clapped 

 close on the surface of a stone. 



TIPULJE, OR EMPIDES. 



MAY. Millions of Empides, or Tipulce, come forth at the 

 close of day, and swarm to such a degree as to fill the air. 

 At this juncture they sport and copulate ; as it grows more 

 dark they retire. All day they hide in the hedges. As 

 they rise in a cloud they appear like smoke. 



I do not ever remember to have seen such swarms, except 

 in the fens of the Isle of Ely. They appear most over 

 grass grounds. 



AUGUST 23. Every ant hill about this time is in a strange 

 hurry and confusion ; and all the winged ants, agitated by 

 some violent impulse, are leaving their homes, and, bent on 

 emigration, swarm by myriads in the air, to the great 

 emolument of the Hirundines, which fare luxuriously. 

 Those that escape the swallows return no more to their 

 nests, but, looking out foi fresh settlements, lay a founda- 

 tion for future colonies. All the females at this time are 

 pregnant : the males that escape being eaten wander away 

 and die. 



October 2. Flying ants, male and female, usually swarm 

 and migrate on hot sunny days in August and September ; 

 but this day a vast emigration took place in my garden, 

 and myriads came forth, in appearance, from the drain 

 which goes under the fruit wall; filling the air and the 

 adjoining trees and shrubs with their numbers. The 

 females were full of eggs. This late swarming is probably 

 owing to the backward, wet season. The day following, 

 not one flying ant was to be seen. 



Horse ants travel home to their nests laden with flies, 

 which they have caught, and the aureliae of smaller ants, 

 which they seize by violence. 1 



1 In my "Naturalist's Calendar" for the year 1777, on September 

 6th, I find the following note to the article Flying Ants : 



