150 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xvi. 



July 22, 10 a. m., the next day. One amazon out and about. 

 Slaves at work but so few engaged that there was nothing to indicate 

 a slave-keeping nest unless it were the size of the mound. Even the 

 amazon was off the nest, and might be mistaken for some stranger 

 ant. The mound was about three inches high with a diameter of six 

 inches counting the entrance as a center, but was not circular, being on 

 sloping ground and therefore in a three quarters circle plan. 



Noon. The colony with the east exposure of its nest to the hot 

 sun, was celebrating its nuptial flight, though the breeze was rather 

 heavy and gusty. Possibly one female flew away of the large winged 

 ants in sight, only two or three in number ; but over half a dozen 

 males flew away, and I left as many more ready to fly when I went to 

 lunch. The males were quite unlike the females, being almost jet- 

 black, only about half as long and many times smaller than the 

 females. The thorax was noticeably thick, high, and black. The 

 males were very active, frisking about much more actively than the 

 females or workers, straddling each other's backs, but in one case only, 

 trying to mount a female. She, however, objected, turned about 

 and crawled down the entrance. The males sometimes amused them- 

 selves by chasing each other up grass stems and "fighting", kick- 

 ing and grappling each other for right of way just out of pure frenzy. 



1:15 p. m. None of the males were about, but large, heavy 

 females were out and flying away. I saw five fly off, and counted 

 as many more getting ready to go when I left. They were like large, 

 juicy, glistening red currants, floating away in a scintillating blurr of 

 wings. They did not fly upward in circles, but rose with one or two 

 zigzags and then went directly either east or west, east bearing toward 

 the valley and west toward the higher hills. This leads me to ask if 

 the males of this species swarm before the females as a rule ? 



Some of the slaves climbed grass stalks after the sexed ants, giving 

 them a parting brush, or, seldom, a gentle tug downward as if to dis- 

 suade them from leaving. Many more ran about on the ground. 

 Three or four amazons were out and less active, having almost nothing 

 to do with the sexed individuals. But perhaps the most interesting 

 thing to note about the nuptial flight was the almost complete sus- 

 pension of excavating activity, only about six earth pellets being 

 brought out by the very large number of slaves on the nest during the 

 half hour they were under my observation. Quite in contrast with 

 this was the great increase in the amount of food being brought in. 



