Community Life in the Animal Kingdom. 31 



defined, nor confined within the cast-iron rules estab- 

 lished by the specific character of each ant, but the 

 workers of one species will at least to some degree 

 take part in the work of any other species. Thus e. g. 

 the rearing of the young in the main nest (see p. 23) 

 is chiefly attended to by the sanguineas themselves, 

 but all the four auxiliary species join in the same 

 work. In the glass bulb of the feeding tube containing 

 the sugar, the greater number of visitors consists of 

 fusca or rufibarbis filling their crops by licking up 

 sugar or honey, with which they hurry to feed their 

 companions in the other parts of the nest. Sanguined, 

 rufa and pratensis often prefer to carry the grains of 

 sugar "in the lump" from the feeding tubes to the top 

 nest, manifesting again various individual differences 

 in their mode of action, quite independent of their 

 specific character. Sometimes the lump of sugar is 

 carried only as far as y (see diagram on p. 23) to the 

 top of the tube, whence it is transported by other ants ; 

 generally, however, it is immediately brought (beyond 

 .v) to the front nest, where it is carried to the bottom 

 in their mandibles, or else, but rather seldom, it is 

 simply dropped from a considerable height. This I 

 observed quite often with sanguined, more rarely with 

 pratensis. When I introduce a large fly or some other 

 live victim into the front nest, it is mostly sanguined 

 and rufibarbis that dart upon it furiously, whilst rufa 

 and pratensis manifest on such occasions remarkable 

 skill and perseverance in holding down the struggling 

 and fluttering victim. The sanguined with their 

 powerful mandibles attend chiefly to the dismembering 

 of their prey, whilst the conveyance of the larger pieces 



