KIDNAPPING ANTS AND THEIR SLAVES 



They bring to building and other home work the energy 

 shown in fighting. The nest architecture of Polyergus 

 has the characteristics of its slave; or, if there be two 

 subject species, shows typical traces of both. The archi- 

 tecture of Sanguinea bears her own individuality crossed 

 with that of her slaves. The theory that institutions 

 founded upon kidnapping and slavery must impair the 

 quality of their supporters here breaks down. Or, shall 

 we fall back upon Darwin's view that the slave-making 

 habit, which has reached its ultimate in Polyergus, is in 

 course of development in Sanguinea, and has not had 

 time to reach its inevitable results? At all events, 

 Sanguinea is a normal ant in warlike and industrial 

 instincts, to which have been added kidnapping and 

 adoption of alien species. 



With Polyergus and Sanguinea alike it is noteworthy 

 that no fertile queens or virgin queens and males of their 

 subjects are reared within the community; only their 

 own are tolerated. The increase of the working citizen- 

 ship is made from captives introduced as larvae and pupae 

 and reared under an enviromnent created by the captors. 

 These prudent creaturelings may well suggest to us a 

 lesson as to the influence of motherhood and the value 

 of home and civil surroundings in forming the character 

 of childhood and the habits of mature life. 



What effect does emmet servitude have upon its 

 subjects? The writer, at least, has never been able 

 to note any effect. The Fuscous and Schaufuss ants — 

 the only two species observed by him — have precisely 

 the same manners in compound as in native nests. 

 The slaves of the Amazons retain their fighting instincts, 

 and are not reduced to mere workers. They seem to 

 transfer with absolute loyalty the normal devotion 



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