STS PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1880. 



and after the usual toucliino; and crossinof of antenna; the man- 

 dibles were tightly interlocked (fig. 5, PL 19 ) ; the head of the slave 

 was then raised, and simultaneousl}- the body of the queen drawn 

 back, stretched quite out in a straight line, and then doubled under, 

 the abdomen being thrown upward apparently resting against the 

 lower part of the face and the fore-part of the thorax (fig. 6, PI. 

 19). In this i)osition the large virgin queens were carried up the 

 perpendicular face of the cutting for eighteen or twenty inches, and 

 then for the distance of six feet over the ground and through the 

 grass. The time consumed in this journey was a few seconds over 

 one minute. I frequently observed this carrying of the workers of 

 Lucidus, in the artificial colonies which I afterw^arcls formed and 

 brought to Philadelphia. The process was substantially^ the 

 same, although often the master was simply dragged along the 

 surface. Moie than once a slight opposition was made to this 

 treatment. The slaves, or at least certain individuals of them (for 

 I am persuaded that ants have their personal peculiarities of dis- 

 position and moods like larger animals) seemed at times to have 

 a prejudice against the presence of the Lucidus ants above ground, 

 and would unceremoniously seize them and carry them below. I 

 have seen a master or more properly " mistress," thus served 

 several times, each time returning in a dogged sort of resistance 

 to the will of her servitor. These emmet mistresses too, appar- 

 ently know something of the bitterness of bondage to a capricious 

 domestic " help." 



The wonderful muscular force of the grip which Lucidus takes 

 with her mandibles was thus illustrated : One worker had for 

 some reason fallen under the displeasure of another, who held her 

 firmly grasped by the middle thorax. Anxious to preserve my 

 colony from unnecessary loss, I lifted the fwo out on the point of 

 a quill toothpick, laid them in my hand, and thrust the fine point 

 of the quill betw^een the jaws of the aggressor, and so teased her 

 until she released her hold of her fellow. The rescued ant in- 

 stantly clasped the palm of my hand, threw her abdomen under, 

 and thus with back curved up like an angry cat, sawed and tugged 

 at the skin until an abrasion had been made. While watching 

 this operation the other ant was still clinging to the quill, and to 

 lier I next turned my attention. She was holding fast in her 

 mandibles the point of the toothpick, with her body stretched 

 straight out into space, her limbs stretched outward, except one 



