346 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
But they have not only their time for repose ; they also devote soma 
to relaxation, during which they amuse themselves with sports and games, 
“ You may frequently perceive one of these ants (7. 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 that after being carried for some time it was lei 
go in a friendly manner, and received no personal injury. This amuse. 
ment, or whatever title you please to give it, is often repeated, particularly 
amongst the hill-ants, who are very fond of this sportive exercise.”* A\ 
nest of ants which Bonnet found in the head of a teazle, when enjoying the 
full sun, which seems the acmé of formic felicity, amused themselves with 
carrying each other on their backs, the rider holding with his mandibles 
the neck of his horse, and embracing it closely with its legs.* But the 
most circumstantial account of their sports is given by Huber. “TI ap. 
proached one day,” says he, “ one of their formicaries (he is speaking of 
F., rufa) exposed to the sun and sheltered from the north, The ants were 
heaped together in great numbers, and seemed to enjoy the temperature 
which they experienced at the surface of the nest. None of them were 
working : this multitude of accumulated insects exhibited the appearance 
of a boiling fluid, upon which at first the eye could scarce fix itself with- 
out difficulty. But when I set myself to follow each ant separately, I saw 
them approach each other, moving their antenne with astonishing rapidity ; 
with their fore feet they patted lightly the cheeks of other ants: after these 
first gestures, which resembled caresses, they reared upon their hind-legs 
by pairs ; they wrestled together; they seized one another by a mandible, 
by a leg or an antenna; they then let go their hold to renew the attack; 
they fixed themselves to each other’s trunk or abdomen ; they embraced ; 
they turned each other over, or lifted each other up by turns—they soon 
quitted the ants they had seized, and endeavoured to catch others. I have 
seen some who engaged in these exercises with such eagerness, as to pur- 
sue successively several workers; and the combat did not terminate till 
the least animated, having thrown his antagonist, accomplished his escape 
by concealing himself in some gallery.”* He compares these sports to the 
gambols of two puppies, and tells us that he not only often observed them 
in this nest, but also in his artificial one. 
I shall here copy for you a memorandum I formerly made. * On the 9th 
of May, at half past two, as I was walking on the Plumstead road near 
Norwich, on a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants ( Mormica fusca) 
agglomerated in crowds near the entrances of their nest.. They seemed to 
make no long excursions, as if intent upon enjoying the sunshine at home; 
but all the while they were coursing about, and appeared to accost each 
other with their antenna. Examining them very attentively, I at length 
saw one dragging another, which it absolutely lifted up by its antennz, an 
carrying it in the air. I followed it with my eye, till it concealed itself and 
its antagonist in the nest. I soon noticed another that had recourse to 
the same manceuvres ; but in this instance the ant that was attacked re- 
sisted manfully, a third sometimes appearing inclined to interfere: the 
result was, that this also was dragged in. A third was haled in by its legs, 
‘and a fourth by its mandibles. What was the precise object of these 
proceedings, whether sport or violence, I could not ascertain. I walked 
1 Gould, 103—. 2 Bonnet, ii. 407. 5 Huber, 170— 
