474 ANTS. 



The observer of one of these forays cannot fail to be impressed 

 with the marvellous precision of its execution. Although the ants may 

 occasionally lose their way and have to retrace their steps or start oft 

 in a different direction, they usually make straight for the nest to be 

 plundered. They must, therefore, like sanguinca, possess a keen sense 

 and memory of locality. There can be little doubt that they often leave 

 the nest singly and make a careful reconnoissance of the slave colonies 

 in the vicinity. 'This year [1873]," says Forel, "I kept seeing the 

 amazons of my colony leaving the nest one by one and going great 

 distances (as much as fifty paces from the nest), marching a short 

 distance at a time. I saw some in little squads of four or five inspect- 

 ing the nests of F. fusca situated at more than thirty paces from their 

 own. They hunted out the openings and carefully scrutinized the sur- 

 roundings. These facts prove' more and more that each amazon worker 

 studies the slave-nests around its own and on its own account, and this 

 permits the army as a whole to direct itself in a mass and to reach a 

 decision at a given moment." 



It is an interesting fact that the slaves take on certain peculiarities, 

 apparently by imitation, from the amazons with which they are living. 

 The timid fusca, e. g., becomes fierce and aggressive, a peculiarity 

 which it also acquires when d.welling with sangninca. In rufibarbis 

 the change in behavior is less apparent, because this ant, even when 

 living alone, is very belligerent. The behavior of the amazons seems 

 also to be influenced by their slaves. According to Forel, those with 

 rufibarbis slaves leave their nests more frequently and earlier and later 

 in the day and move in denser armies and more rapidly than amazons 

 with fusca slaves. It is rather difficult to account for these colonial 

 idiosyncrasies. Perhaps only the more vigorous Polyergus succeed in 

 enslaving rufibarbis, while feebler or more languid colonies have to 

 content themselves with the more tractable fusca. While in its nest 

 ntfcsccns is under the tutelage of its slaves. These sometimes prevent 

 the warriors from making a foray or go out and meet them, when they 

 have gone astray and carry them home. When the colony moves to a 

 new nest the slaves take charge of matters and carry the amazons. 

 We have seen that when the sanguined colony changes its headquarters, 

 it is the slaves that are carried. 



2. The American Amazons. I have been able to observe all our 

 American subspecies of rufesccns in a living condition, except uic.ri- 

 canus, which is known only from a few cabinet specimens. Even the 

 precise locality from which these came is unknown, but it must have 

 been either in the northern portion of Mexico, or if further south, at a 

 considerable altitude. The worker of this subspecies resembles that of 



