166 THE RING OF NATURE 



the previous demise of the fused 's own queen, she 

 was received as the all-important mother. In 

 due time, the young rufas appeared and increased 

 till they overran the nest, and from honoured 

 guests or foster sisters took the role of domineering 

 masters. Then as the slaves, in the ordinary 

 course of nature, died off, their loss was so severely 

 felt by the masters that they went out and attacked 

 another fusca nest and brought home new ones. 

 That particular strain of Formica rufa, in fact, 

 may have become the progenitors of a new species, 

 Formica sanguined, the British slave-making ant. 



F. sanguinea is so like F. rufa in general and 

 minute form as to appear even to careful observers 

 identical. The distinguishing difference is found 

 with a good pocket lens on the shield-shaped 

 front of the head, which in sanguinea is slightly 

 notched at the shoulders. It has only been found 

 as yet in the southem counties, and even there is 

 scarce. Mr. Horace Hutchinson knows of a nest 

 somewhere in Ashdown Forest. 



When we have seen a queen ant with her wings 

 on, we have seen the insect complete. As a 

 winged insect, it falls to be classified with the 

 bees and the wasps among the hymen optera. 

 Myrmidons all, in the devotion of each worker to 

 the common cause, and in the vast numbers they 

 produce as summer runs its course. It can surely 

 not have been mere coincidence that made Homer 

 give to the faithful and numerous followers of 

 Achilles the name, myrmidons, so near to myrmiz, 



