SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 47 



alarm, and to carry the larvae and pupae away 

 to a place of safety. The Sanguineas ruthlessly 

 kill numbers of their small foes, putting them 

 at last to flight, and having made a successful 

 breach, enter the nest in search of the worker 

 larvae and pupae of the Black Ants, for they do 

 not appear to carry off the larvae or pupae that 

 will ultimately become males or queens. In a 

 very short time the conquerors may be seen to 

 come forth again and begin to retrace their steps 

 in the direction of their own nest, each of the 

 victors carrying in its jaws a larva or pupa 

 captured from the ravaged nest. These larvae 

 and pupae of the little Black Ant are carefully 

 tended by the Sanguinea workers until their 

 metamorphosis is completed, and they are ready 

 to take up their duties as workers within the 

 nest, nursing the babies of their captors and 

 helping in the general work of the nest. 



The Sauba, or so-called Umbrella Ants of 

 tropical South America, are most interesting in 

 their habits, and are in many ways very remark- 

 able insects. Every colony of the Sauba Ants 

 will be found to contain no less than five distinct 

 classes of individuals, comprising males, queens, 

 small ordinary workers, sometimes called worker 

 minors, and two types of large or major workers, 

 one with large polished heads, the other with very 

 hairy heads. The true function of these two large 

 major workers has yet to be satisfactorily 

 explained, for up to the present we have no 

 authoritative record of their having been observed 

 to take any part in the work of the nest, or to 

 enter into combat with other species. Bates, 



