ANT COMMUNITIES 



at the margin of the little landslide. A rescue would 

 have been easy, but it was not undertaken. A sketch 

 made shortly after the accident shows a worker-minor 

 standing before the rotund with head and body erect, 

 antenna? attent, with every mark of curious interest in 

 her pose. She watched the struggles, and (as it seemed 

 to me) the mute appeals of her unhappy fellow, who by 

 great exertion had heaved up the clod somewhat, and 

 then ' ' passed by on the other side." Meanwhile a second 

 worker was perched atop of the clod, coolly and cozily 

 combing her back hair and antenna? ! This tableau fitly 

 characterizes the workers' behavior in such cases. 



Such facts, which might be multiplied, incline one 

 to the view that personal benevolence, as distinguished 

 from tribal or communal benevolence, does not exist 

 in ants. I cannot even assent to Lord Avebury's sug- 

 gestion [Lb. 2, p. 497] that there are " individual dif- 

 ferences' 3 among them, and that, as with men, there 

 are priests and Levites as well as good Samaritans. The 

 apparent cases of beneficence, outside the instinctive 

 actions that lie within the line of formicary routine, are 

 so rare and so doubtful as to their cause that, however 

 loath, I must decide against the existence in honey-ants 

 of even so much personal benevolence as would make an 

 emmetonian "good Samaritan." 



It is true that many of the above observations were 

 made upon insects living in artificial conditions, but they 

 cannot be far away from their habits in a natural site. 

 Moreover, it is possible, not to say probable, that there 

 may be species that show greater aptitude for acts of 

 personal kindness, just as some have special aptitude for 

 war, while others are deficient in courage. But all the 

 facts within the author's knowledge confirm the above 



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