60 AXTS AND ANT LIFE. 



moreover this great difference between the males and fertile 

 females, that the males are far more behind the workers in 

 intelligence and other good qualities than are the females. 

 Owing to the weakness of their mandibles they are as in- 

 capable of every kind of work as they are of defending 

 themselves against an enemy. Forel thinks that they are not 

 even able to distinguish between the workers of their own 

 colony and those of a hostile tribe. If a nest be destroyed, 

 they try to hide away in corners, and often do not know the 

 way back to their tunnels, while the fertile females are 

 quite able to find it. The latter will have long found a 

 place of safety, while a number of males are wandering un- 

 steadily about, without knowing whither to flee. The 

 workers often find themselves obliged to lead them all back 

 to the nest. 



The fertile females are also able to occasionally help the 

 workers in their labors, a task of which the much smaller 

 males are quite incapable, and Forel has often watched 

 these females carrying larva? and pupaa. They manage to 

 follow the fleeing workers, in case of flight, while the males 

 are scarcely ever able to do so. They also exhibit many 

 signs of courage and intelligence, although they never equal 

 the workers, and they show in their character a certain 

 irritability and want of perseverance. They are also able 

 to distinguish between friend and foe. They are almost 

 twice as large as the males, and are generally rather larger 

 than the worker-ants. 



It is perceived that among ants the female sex has pre- 

 dominance over the male in all questions of rights, and this 

 is carried out in a way which must raise the envy of the 

 boldest champions of human female emancipation. 



When the fertile females go on the surface of the nest in 

 company with their unworthy wooers, or future husbands, 

 they are, as we said above, accompanied by a guard of 

 workers, which appear to be very proud of the importance 

 of their task, and lead their charges back within the nest 

 at the least sign of danger. After these walks have been 

 repeated during several days, the great flight, or wedding 

 tour, takes place with the consent of the workers, gene- 

 rally on some fine afternoon in July or August. The 

 entrances to the nest are widened or increased in number, 

 for the greater convenience of the swarmers, and an unusual 



