INSECT COMMUNITIES 297 



(Lasius Jlavus) Lord Avebury found that when six months 

 later the aphides hatch, they are brought out by the ants 

 and placed upon young shoots of the daisy — their proper 

 food. 



Still more remarkable are the habits of certain ants 

 which press other ants of different species into their ser- 

 vice, employing them to perform the various duties which 

 usually devolve upon the workers of the community. 

 There are degrees of this slave-making habit, as it is 

 called. Thus, in the case of the wood-ant Formica san- 

 guined — the only British slave-owner — occasional sallies 

 are made upon the nests of smaller species, when desperate 

 fights ensue. As its name implies, F. sanguined is a 

 bloodthirsty ruffian, and conducts its military operations 

 with no little skill. The defenders of the attacked nest 

 are usually overpowered, and the victorious raiders carry 

 away many larvae and pupae. These are carefully tended ; 

 and when the adult insects appear, they become domestic 

 drudges in the alien nest. They serve their captors faith- 

 fully, and relieve them of much irksome toil. When a 

 colony of F. sanguined changes its quarters, as sometimes 

 happens, they carry their slaves with them. But the 

 depraved Amazon ants (Polyergus rufescens) of Europe are 

 actually carried by their slaves when concerted movements 

 are made. Moreover, the Amazons are dependent upon 

 their captives to an extraordinary degree, being practically 

 incapable of feeding either themselves or their young. Yet 

 because they are excessively fierce and warlike, they are 

 probably never at a loss to secure as many slaves as they 

 need. One of the most remarkable facts connected with 

 the slave-making proclivities of ants is that the enslaved 

 individuals make no attempt to escape, although they are 

 free to come and go as they please. Strangest of all, 

 however, is the case of a rare European ant called Aner- 



