Wars and Slavery in the Animal Kingdom. 65 



in and around the entrance. Only one or two tried to 

 get hold of the intruder by one of her legs, but with- 

 out success. Of course, their horny (chitine) armor 

 protected them sufficiently against the jaws of the 

 sanguinea; all the more, as the latter did not allow 

 herself time to pay special attention to her single foes. 

 It was exceedingly amusing to see the indefatigable 

 zeal and hurry of the large ant getting hold of the 

 small ants one after another and carrying them away, 

 after which they slowly crawled home again. It is 

 hard indeed to say what induced the sanguinea to 

 engage in this odd kind of skirmish. Perhaps it was 

 mere love of fighting. That she released the single 

 Myrmicas so soon, might be explained by her fear 

 of the sting, with which these ants are provided. Yet, 

 it is more probable, that the marauder took a fancy 

 to the entrance of the Myrmica nest, and on this 

 account tried to expropriate the inhabitants. Of 

 course, her labor was no more successful than that of 

 Sisyphus, because she did not carry the ants further 

 than a few inches from the nest, and, besides, the 

 number of ants coming out of the nest had no end; 

 but this did not seem to affect her in the least. 



It would be ridiculous, arbitrarily to humanize 

 such instances and to suppose all possible kinds of 

 "intelligent purposes" on the part of the ant, as is 

 customary with popular psychology. Yet, on the other 

 hand, it cannot be denied, that "mechanical autom- 

 atism" of instinct will never explain them. The only 

 satisfactory solution psychology can give, is to 

 ascribe to ants sensitive powers of cognition and appe- 

 tite, which, under the influence of exterior sense per- 

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