86 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



them at the entrance of the tube, it was that they might 

 use greater dispatch in fetching the rest. The rufescent 

 when thus set down remained for a moment coiled up 

 without motion, and then leisurely unrolling itself, looked 

 all around, as if it was quite at a loss what direction to 

 take ; — it next went up to the negroes, and by the play 

 of its antennae seemed to implore their succour, till one 

 of them attending to it conducted it into the hive. 



Beings so entirely dependent, as these masters are 

 upon their slaves, for every necessary, comfort and en- 

 joyment of their life, can scarcely be supposed to treat 

 them with rigour or unkindness : — so far from this, it is 

 evident from the preceding details, that they rather look 

 up to them, and are in some degree under their control. 



The above observations, with respect to the indolence 

 of our slave-dealers, relate principally to the rufescent 

 species ; for the sanguine ants are not altogether so list- 

 less and helpless ; they assist their negroes in the con- 

 struction of their nests, they collect their sweet fluid from 

 the Aphides ; and one of their most usual occupations is 

 to lie in wait for a small species of ant, on which they 

 feed ; and when their nest is menaced by an enemy, they 

 show their value for these faithful servants by carrying 

 them down into the lowest apartments, as to a place of 

 the greatest security. Sometimes even therufescents rouse 

 themselves from the torpor that usually benumbs them. 

 In one instance, when they wished to emigrate from their 

 own to a deserted nest, they reversed what usually takes 

 place on such occasions, and carried all their negroes 

 themselves to the spot they had chosen. At the first 

 foundation also of their societies by impregnated females, 

 there is good reason for thinking, that, like those of other 



