PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 103 
port than that of its two extremities. One would sup- 
pose that their own weight would sink them; but it is 
certain that the masses remain floating during the inun- 
dation, which lasts some days?. 
You must now be fully satiated with this account of 
the constant fatigue and labour to which our little pis- 
mires are doomed by the law of their nature; I shall 
therefore endeavour to relieve your mind by introducing 
you to a more quiet scene, and exhibit them to you du- 
ring their intervals of repose and relaxation. 
Gould tells us that the hill-ant is very fond of basking 
in the sun, and that on a fine serene morning you may 
see them conglomerated like bees on the surface of their 
nest, from whence, on the least disturbance, they will 
disappear in an instant’. M. Huber also observes, after 
their labours are finished, that they stretch themselves 
in the sun, where they lie heaped one upon another, and 
seem to enjoy a short interval of repose: and in the in- 
terior of an artificial nest, in which he had confined some 
of this species, where he saw many employed in various 
ways, he noticed some reposing which appeared to be 
asleep ©. 
But they have not only their time for repose; they 
also devote some to relaxation, during which they amuse 
themselves with sports and games. ‘“‘ You may frequently 
perceive one of these ants (#. rufa) (says our Gould) run 
to and fro with a fellow-labourer in his forceps, of the 
same species and colony. It appeared first in the light 
of provisions ; but I was soon undeceived by observing, 
@ Voyages dans? Amérique Meérid. 1. 187. 
> Gould, 69. ¢ Huber, 73. 
