ANTS AND THEIR SLAVES. 169 



Ants and Their Slaves. 



BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



One summer day, about one hundred years ago, Pierre 

 Huber, a young Swiss naturalist, while walking in a field 

 near Geneva, saw on the ground a column of reddish- 

 brown ants, evidently on the march. Pierre, being already 

 a trained observer, for he had from childhood used his 

 eyes to aid his blind father; who was a naturalist also, of 

 course carefully followed them. 



He observed, as anyone may sometimes see, that while 

 the main body marched steadily forward, there were a few 

 on the sides of the line who constantly hurried backward 

 and forward, as if to keep the army in order and to direct 

 its course. 



After marching about a quarter of an hour, they halted 

 before an ant-hill belonging to some small black ants. A 

 battle followed, for a part of the black colony made a 

 brave resistance, while the rest hurried away with their 

 children. Pierre soon perceived that it was these children 

 that the larger reddish-brown ants had come for. 



Ants, when hatched, are legless white grubs. After 

 a time these grubs spin a silken cocoon around themselves 

 and wait for the next change, when they come forth full- 

 grown ants. These long, round, white cocoons are found 

 in every ants' nest, and are commonly mistaken for eggs, 

 because few people stop to think how small the eggs of 

 such tiny creatures must be. 



It was to seize and carry away these cocoons, each 

 with a living little black ant in it, that the big red ants 

 had come so far. The black ants knew it, and did the 

 best they could to defend and hide their children. But 

 the red ants were the stronger, and soon the line was re- 

 formed and the homeward march resumed, each soldier 



