PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 85 



shut up thirty of the rufescent ants in a glazed box, sup- 

 plying them with larvae and pupae of their own kind, 

 with the addition of several negro pupae, excluding very 

 carefully all their slaves, and placing some honey in a 

 corner of their prison. Incredible as it may seem, they 

 made no attempt to feed themselves : and though at first 

 they paid some attention to their larvae, carrying them 

 here and there, as if too great a charge they soon laid 

 them down again ; most of them died of hunger in less 

 than two days ; and the few that remained alive appeared 

 extremely weak and languid. At length, commiserating 

 their condition, he admitted a single negro ; and this lit- 

 tle active creature by itself re-established order — made 

 a cell in the earth ; collected the larvse and placed them 

 in it; assisted the pupae that were ready to be developed ; 

 and preserved the life of the neuter rufescents that still 

 survived. M^hat a picture of beneficent industry, con- 

 trasted with the baleful effects of sloth, does this interest- 

 ing anecdote afford ! Another experiment which he 

 tried made the contrast equally striking. He put a large 

 portion of one of these mixed colonies into a woollen 

 bag, in the mouth of which he fixed a small tube of wood, 

 glazed at the top, which at the other end was fitted to 

 the entrance of a kind of hive. The second day the tube 

 was crowded with negroes going and returning : — the 

 indefatigable diligence and activity manifested by them 

 in transporting the young brood and their rufescent mas- 

 ters, whose bodies were suspended upon their mandibles, 

 was astonishing. These last took no active part in the 

 busy scene, while their slaves showed the greatest anxiety 

 about them, generally carrying them into the hive; and 

 if they sometimes contented themselves with depositing 



