278 NATURAL HISTORY. 



communities among the Ants as well as among men, and 

 some interesting descriptions have been given of their 

 battles. But the most remarkable fact in the history of 

 Ants is the propensity of certain species to kidnap the 

 workers of other species and train them as their slaves. 

 The kidnappers are always red or pale colored, while 

 those which are made slaves are black. The slaves are 

 not captured after they have become Ants, but when 

 they are in the pupa state. The ant-heap is attacked by 

 the marauders when the cells are filled with pupa3, and 

 at no other time ; a sanguinary battle is the consequence ; 

 and the Red Ants, being uniformly victorious, carry off 

 the pupa? to their own nest. Here the red workers take 

 the same care of these pupaB as they do of those belong- 

 ing to their own community, and when the black work- 

 ers come out from the pupa-cocoons, they very readily 

 serve their captors. 



474. The insects of the Melliferous or honey-collecting 

 division of the Aculeata are distinguished by a peculiar 

 conformation of the hind feet. The first joint has the 

 shape of a square plate, on the inside of which are hol- 

 lows surrounded by brush-like tufts. In these baskets, 

 as they may be called, the pollen of flowers is collected 

 and carried to the nest. The insects of this division are 

 all called Bees. Like the Wasps, they have two groups, 

 the Solitary and the Social. Of the Solitary Bees, some 

 form burrows in the ground ; others build several cells 

 together, covering them with sand or small gravel united 

 by their viscid saliva, and hence are called Mason Bees ; 

 others excavate cells in dead wood, and are called Car- 

 penter Bees ; and others still, the Upholsterer Bees, con- 

 struct their nests from leaves, which they cut into the 

 requisite shapes with great dexterity. 



475. Of the Social Bees there are two principal groups 

 the Bombi or Humble Bees, and the Hive Bees. The 

 Humble Bees, of which there are many species, build 

 their nests either under ground, or on the surface unde* 



