NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



freemen and citizens, and their youth and children 

 grew up to know no other country. 



One hundred years ago a Swiss naturaUst, M.Pierre 

 Huber, the distinguished son of an eminent father, 

 made the discovery of what he called mixed or "com- 

 pound nests" of ants. These embraced two species, of 

 which one, the Rufescent ant {Polyergus rufescens), was 

 dominant; the other, the Fuscous ant {Formica fusca), 

 was in a subject or servile condition. The Rufescent 

 ants — which Huber named "Amazons" and "Legiona- 

 ries" — were found to be a military caste, making raids 

 upon neighboring formicaries for the capture of larvse 

 and pupse, which they brought home, most of them 

 probably to serve as food, but many to be reared as 

 workers. The affairs of these mixed communities were 

 conducted in the usual emmet way, with one striking 

 difference. The Fuscas, or "negroes," did all the work 

 of construction, of foraging, and of feeding the family, 

 including the Amazons themselves, their queens, and 

 young winged males and females. The sole function of 

 the Amazons was to fight and plunder, and they con- 

 trolled the succession and citizenship of the commune. 

 In the course of his studies Huber found another species, 

 the Sanguine ant (Formica sanguinea), having the same 

 habit of kidnapping other species, but with some de- 

 cided differences in manners, and that some compound 

 nests contained two slave species. 



This is a bare outline of a series of facts which have 

 been noted and published in greater or less detail by 

 various observers, especially the distinguished country- 

 man of Huber, Dr. August Forel. They form a unique 

 chapter in the history of animated nature, some of 

 whose pages will interest the general reader. Recent 



70 



