THE ORIGIN AND MAINTENANCE OF COLONIES. the appearance of the winged males and females in the ant colony, both are guarded by the workers until a suitable time for flight. Finally, they are let out on warm days in sum mer and autumn to appear in the air in myriads. .1\ lating is supposed to take place while on the wing. Soon after mating, the males die and those females that escape enemies and inclement weath er settle clown to the ground, tear off their wings, and make excavations in materials suit able to the constrnetion of their nest. The eggs are then laid, and upon hatching the are fed on some substance already stored up within the body of the queen, since she never goes out for food. When the workers of the first set, which are of small size, appear, the care of the larvae and pupa devolves upon them, and there after the queen devotes herself exclusively to egg-laying. Thus a new colony is established. Frequently one or more young queens are found by workers and conveyed to colonies already es tablished, which they continue to maintain should the former queen be old. Thus more than one
queen-ant may, without quarrels, live in a single colony. The workers feed the queen, and follow her on her wanderings throughout the passages and chambers. As she lets fall the eggs, the workers carry them to suitable locations. In the queen's presence they not infrequently perform those same peculiar antics and capers which they employ to express their emotions upon the re turn of a lost comrade. The legless larva' and the pupae are carried to the surface layers by day, for the sake of the sun's warmth, and at night, or during rain, to deeper and drier chambers. The larva' are fed by the nurses on regurgitated, half digested food, or on a substance elaborated by them. They are carefully licked and rubbed by the nurses to keep them clean, and when the time arrives for the pupae to emerge from their silken or naked sheaths, the workers are at hand to help them out and to unfold and dry their wings and legs.