76 ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. [LECT. 



Most ants, indeed, will carry off the larvae and pupae 

 of others if they get a chance ; and this explains, or at 

 any rate throws some light upon, that most remarkable 

 phenomenon, the existence of slavery among ants. If 

 you place a number of larvae or pupae in front of a nest 

 of the horse ant, for instance, they are soon carried off ; 

 and those which are not immediately required for food 

 remain alive for some days, though I have never been 

 able to satisfy myself whether they are fed by their 

 captors. Both the horse ant and the slave ant (F.fusca) 

 are abundant species, and it must not unfrequently occur 

 that the former, being pressed for food, attack the latter 

 and carry off some of their larvae and pupae. Under 

 these circumstances, it occasionally happens that the 

 pupae come to maturity in the nests of the horse ant ; 

 and nests are sometimes, though rarely, found, in which, 

 with the legitimate owners, there are a few F.fuscas. 

 With the horse ant this is, however, a very rare and 

 exceptional phenomenon ; but with an allied species, 

 F. sanguinea, a species which exists in our southern 

 counties and throughout Europe, it has become an estab- 

 lished habit. The F. sanguineas make periodical ex- 

 peditions, attack neighbouring nests of F. fusca, and 

 carry off the pupae. When the latter -come to maturity, 

 they find themselves in a nest consisting partly of F. 

 sanguineas, partly of F. fuscas, the results of previous 

 expeditions. They adapt themselves to circumstances, 

 assist in the ordinary household duties, and, having no 

 young of their own species, feed and tend those of the 

 F. sanguineas. But though the F. sanguineas are thus 

 aided by the F.fuscas, they have not themselves lost 

 the instinct of working. It seems not improbable that 



