2992 THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



The swarms of ants which in spring rise in clouds are males and females. 

 This is their nuptial dance, and for hours they circle and sport in the sunshine. 

 The males fall and die, or are destroyed by numerous foes. Nor is any assistance 

 offered them by the workers, who well know that their vocation in life has been 

 fulfilled, and they themselves are no longer of any use. The females having 

 divested themselves of their wings, with claws and legs, set about founding new 

 colonies. The eggs, however, must be nursed if they are to hatch, and are 

 subjected to much licking by the nurses. Then the larvae must be fed; next, they 

 are carefully cleansed and carried for their daily walk through the lanes of the nest. 

 Not even after the grub has become a pupa is the ant allowed to emerge without 

 assistance. Biichner writes that " the little creature when freed from its chrysalis is 

 still covered with a thin skin, like a little shirt, which has to be pulled off. When 

 we see how neatly and gently this is done, and how the tiny creature is then 

 washed, brushed, and fed, we are involuntarily reminded of [the nursing of human 

 babies." Next, they are taught their domestic duties, and to distinguish between 

 friend and foe. If the nest is attacked, the older and more experienced fight, 

 while the younger members remove the pupae to a place of safety. 



Ants not only feed upon the honey dew dropped by plant lice upon leaves, 

 but also rear aphide eggs, and feed the insects for the sake of their secretion. 

 Tunnels, or covered ways, are made by some ants up the branches of the trees 

 where the aphides live, so that the insects are inclosed and kept prisoners. 

 Certain portions of the tunnels are enlarged to form stables, where the aphides are 

 penned, the doors being large enough for the narrow ants to enter and leave, but 

 not for the rotund plant lice to escape. The ' ' cows ' ' are induced to part with a 

 drop of honey dew by a gentle stroking with the antennae, and general encourage- 

 ment of other kinds. Ants are far in advance of human dairymaids in the matter 

 of tact in dealing with their cows. Colonies of aphides have been carried by ants 

 to fresh pastures. 



It is no long step from cow keeping to slave making. At least three species 

 of ants indulge in this reprehensible practice. A raid is organized against a 

 neighboring nest warriors and workers are slain, and the pupae carried off, 

 hatched and reared, soon to work and fight for their masters in the land of their 

 captivity. In come cases the slaves are kept for indoor occupation, and are carried 

 off as part of their goods and chattels, by their masters, when they migrate into 

 new quarters. Another species does not work at all, neither males nor females; 

 the workers sterile females capture slaves, but do no more. They neither feed 

 their young, nor make their nests, a city state entirely dependent on slave labor. 

 Not only, however, do slave-making ants engage in expeditions against other com- 

 munities for the purpose of securing servants; but even many ants, whose energies 

 are confined to agriculture, not infrequently wage war for the sake of plunder on 

 others whose habits of life are similar. An expedition of the former tribes usually 

 consists of a general attack upon the nest of a species which they are in the habit of 

 enslaving. Single scouts are sent out to reconnoitre, whose business it is to inves- 

 tigate the position of the nest and the whereabouts of the entrances. Having 

 satisfied themselves of the feasibility of an attack, they return to their own nest, 



