. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. f Campon- not easily determined, but it is generally con- otns americanus, somewhat ceded to be due to meteorological conditions, enlarged. (Photograph by , J. G. Hubbard and O. , indeed, seems to be the most natural strong.) explanation of the phenomenon. When the hour for the nuptial flight draws near, a strange excite-ment pervades the ranks of the workers. At such times even the blindand etiolated workers of the hypoggeic species venture out into thesunlight and accompany the males and females to the entrance of thenest. The winged f
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. f Campon- not easily determined, but it is generally con- otns americanus, somewhat ceded to be due to meteorological conditions, enlarged. (Photograph by , J. G. Hubbard and O. , indeed, seems to be the most natural strong.) explanation of the phenomenon. When the hour for the nuptial flight draws near, a strange excite-ment pervades the ranks of the workers. At such times even the blindand etiolated workers of the hypoggeic species venture out into thesunlight and accompany the males and females to the entrance of thenest. The winged forms move about in tremulous indecision, but,finally venture forth, run about on the stones or climb about on thegrass-blades till they have filled their tracheae with a plentiful supplyof oxygen. Then they spread their wings and are soon lost to viewhigh in the air. Their evolutions, so far as they can be observed, re-semble those of the honey-bee so vividly described by Maeterlinck : She, drunk with her wings, obeying the magnificent law of the. 184 ANTS. race that chooses her lover, and enacts that the strongest alone shallattain her in the solitude of the ether, she rises still; and, for the firsttime in her life, the blue morning air rushes into her stigmata, singingits song, like the blood of heaven, in the myriad tubes of the trachealsacs, nourished on -pace, that fill the center of her body. She risesstill. A region must be found unhaunted by birds, else that mightprofane the nn>iery. She rises still; and already the ill-assorted troopbelow are dwindling and falling asunder. The feeble, infirm, the aged,unwelcome, ill-fed, who have flown from inactive or impoverishedcities, these renounce the pursuit and disappear in the void. Only , indefatigable cluster remain, suspended in infinite opal. Shesummons her wings for one final effort; and now the chosen of in-comprehensible forces has reached her, has seized her, and boundingaloft with united impetus, the ascen
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
