PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 51 
were observed by Gould, the size of one exceeding that 
of the other about one third?. (In my specimens, the 
large workers of F. rufa are nearly three times, and of 
F. flava twice, the size of the small ones.) All were 
equally engaged in the labours of the colony. Large 
workers were also noticed by M. P. Huber in the nests 
of F. rufescens”, but he could not ascertain their office. 
Having introduced you to the individuals of which the 
associations of ants consist, I shall now advert to the prin- 
cipal events of their history, relating first the fates of the 
males and females. In the warm days that occur from 
the end of July to the beginning of September, and some- 
times later, the habitations of the various species of ants 
may be seen to swarm with winged insects, which are 
the males and females, preparing to quit for ever the 
scene of their nativity and education. Every thing is in 
motion—and the silver wings contrasted with the jet bo- 
dies which compose the animated mass, add a degree of 
splendour to the interesting scene. ‘The bustle increases, 
till at length the males rise, as it were by a general im- 
pulse, into the air, and the females accompany them. 
The whole swarm alternately rises and falls with a slow 
movement to the height of about ten feet, the males fly- 
ing obliquely with a rapid zigzag motion, and the females, 
de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de Généve, a qui nous l’avons fait 
voir ; ’approche du male étoit toujours suivie de la mort de l’ou- 
vriere ; leur conformation ne permet donc pas qu’elles deviennent 
méres, mais l’instinct du male prouve du moins que ce sont des fe- 
melles.”’ 2 Gould, 103. 
> M. Huber calls this an apterous female ; yet he could not dis- 
cover that they laid eggs; and he owns that they more nearly re- 
sembled the workers than the females ; and that he should have con- 
sidered them as such, had he seen them mix with them in their ex- 
eursions. Huber, p. 251. 
