HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 195 



torial possessions ; there are some whose taste in this 

 direction is so prononce, that they make war for the 

 purpose of possessing themselves of slaves who shall 

 free them from the necessity of all home drudgery. 

 This, which might seem almost incredible, can scarcely 

 be refused credence on the authority of such writers as 

 those who have from their own observation described 

 the proceedings of these slave-making Ants. The slaves 

 once domiciled amongst their captors take willingly to 

 their work, and perform most efficiently all the duties 

 of builders, nurses, and housekeepers, even extending 

 their labours to the feeding of those heroes whose 

 inveterate laziness " off duty" is not without example 

 amongst the warlike portion of a larger if not nobler 

 race. 



Mr. Newman, in his " Popular Introduction to the 

 Natural History of Insects," gives a description of the 

 proceedings of these Ants, which will serve to illustrate 

 many points in their military tactics. 



" The most remarkable fact connected with the history 

 of Ants is the propensity possessed by certain species to 

 kidnap the workers of other species and compel them to 

 labour for the community, thus using them completely 

 as slaves, and, as far as we yet know, the kidnappers are 

 red or pale-coloured Ants, and the slaves, like the ill- 

 treated natives of Africa, are of a jet black. 



" The time for capturing slaves extends over a period 

 of about ten weeks, and never commences until the males 

 and females are about emerging from the pupa state, 

 and thus the ruthless marauders never interfere with 

 the continuation of the species. This instinct seems 

 specially provided, for were the slave ants created for no 

 other end than to fill the station of slavery to which 



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