ZOOLOGY. 371 
could find but comparatively few individuals in the nest, and could 
detect no movements on their parts that referred to the exodus of 
winged individuals, then going on. 
On the other hand, the time of day agrees with the remarks of 
Mr. Bates. When we first noticed them, about 4 P. M. they had 
probably just commenced their “flight.” It continued until nearly 
seven o’clock P. M., or a considerable time after sundown. The 
next morning, there was not an individual, winged or wingless, to 
be seen above ground; the nest itself was comparatively empty ; 
and what few occupants there were seemed to be in a semi-torpid 
condition. Were they simply resting after the fatigue and excite- 
ment of yesterday? 
It was not possible for us to caleulate what proportion of these 
winged ants were carried by the wind too far to return to their old 
home; but certainly a large proportion were caught by the sur- 
rounding trees; and we found, on search, some of these crawling 
down the trunks of the trees, with their wings in a damaged 
Condition. How near the trees must be for them to reach their 
old home, we should like to learn; and what tells them, ‘* which 
road to take?’ Dr. Duncan states,* “It was formerly supposed 
that the females which alighted at a great distance from their old 
nests returned again, but Huber, having great doubts upon this 
Subject, found that some of them after having left the males, fell 
on to the ground in out-of-the-way places, whence they could not 
Possibly return to the original nest!” We unfortunately did not 
note the sex of those individuals that we intercepted in their 
return(?) trip; but we cannot help expressing our belief that, at 
east, in this case, there was scarcely an appreciable amount of 
“returning” on the part of those whose exodus we have just 
described ; although so many were caught by the nearer trees and 
shrubbery. Is it probable that these insects could find their way 
to a small underground nest, where there was no “travel” in the 
Vicinity, other than the steady departure of individuals, who, like 
themselyes, were terribly bothered with the wings they were 
carrying about with them?—C. C. ABBOTT. 
We have noticed that those females that do not return to the 
old nest found new ones. In Maine and Massachusetts we have 
for several successive years noticed the swarming of certain species | 
irae cee es ee 
* Transformations of Insects, p. 205. 
