Natural History 517 



For instance, the Amazon Ants, which have jaws well suited 

 for warfare but inconvenient for the peaceful occupations of 

 life, habitually keep slaves to wait upon them. Professor 

 Wheeler thus describes them: "While in the home nest they 

 sit about in stolid idleness or pass the long hours begging the 

 slaves for food, or cleaning themselves and burnishing their ruddy 

 armour, but when outside the nest they display a dazzling courage 

 and capacity for concerted action." Scouts report their dis- 

 covery of a Brown Ant colony, and a raid promptly follows, the 

 Amazons returning victorious with a large number of prisoners, 

 which become faithful slaves. Darwin's suggestion "of the origin 

 of slave-making was that many ants capture the pupa? of other 

 ants for food, that some of the stored pupa? might be uninten- 

 tionally reared, that if their presence in the community was not 

 resented but proved useful, the slave-making habit might make 

 ground." 



Like the Termites, the true Ants frequently have guests 

 within their homes. Certain little crickets find shelter and abun- 

 dant food in this hospitable haunt. They beg food from the 

 ants, and usually they shamelessly steal from the newly-fed 

 young ants. Beetles, too, with a peculiar fragrance that makes 

 them welcome guests, persuade the ants to share the sweet sub- 

 stances they carry in their crops, by stroking them till they 

 deliver up the coveted dainty. One species of ant carries mites 

 about on the body, feeding them and caring for them, but ap- 

 parently deriving no benefit from them. Evidently ants are 

 fond of keeping pets! 



One of the peaceful occupations ants pursue is keeping 

 "cattle." Their "cows" are little aphides or green-flies, which 

 they cherish for the sake of the sweet "honey-dew" that exudes 

 from their bodies. Possibly at first it was simply a matter of 

 feeding at the same table, when the ants would discover the 

 sugary fluid and get into the way of licking the green-flies. 

 The eggs of a certain aphis, which are of no direct use to the 



