CHAP. X. SLAVE-MAKING ANTS P, RUFESCENS. 325 



ruddy or reddish, while those which are captured to 

 become their servants are black ! The whole history 

 of which we are compelled to give but an abstract 

 appears so incredible, that few names below that of 

 Huber would be considered sufficiently unimpeachable 

 to satisfy mankind that this " almost incredible devi- 

 ation of Nature from her usual laws " was actually true. 

 But let M. Huber, the first discoverer of these extra- 

 ordinary facts, speak for himself. " My readers," says 

 he, " will, perhaps, be tempted to believe that I have 

 suffered myself to be carried away by the love of the 

 marvellous ; and that, in order to impart greater Interest 

 to my narrative, I have given way to an inclination to 

 embellish the facts that I have observed. But the more 

 the wonders of nature have attractions for me, the less 

 do I feel inclined to alter them by a mixture of the 

 reveries of imagination. I have sought to divest myself 

 of every illusion and prejudice, of the ambition of saying 

 new things, of the prepossessions often attached to 

 perceptions too rapid, the love of system, and the like; 

 and I have endeavoured to keep myself if I may so 

 speak in a disposition of mind perfectly neuter, 

 ready to admit all facts, of whatever nature they might 

 be, that patient observation should confirm. Amongst 

 the persons whom I have taken as witnesses to the dis- 

 covery of mixed ant-hills, I can cite a distinguished 

 philosopher (professor Jurine), "who was desirous of 

 verifying their existence, by examining, himself, the two 

 species united."* Unfortunately for the British ento- 

 mologist, none of the slave-making species are natives 

 of this country, although abundant in many parts of 

 the Continent. He will, however, receive satisfaction 

 in knowing that Mr. Kirby, when in France, had an 

 opportunity of completely verifying Huber's account of 

 one of these species (Formica rufescens"), whose history, 

 together with that of the red species (F. sangulnea), 

 we shall now enter upon, these being the two which 

 more especially engaged the attention of M. Huber. 



* Huber, p. 287. Int. to Ent. vol. ii. p. 75. 

 Y 3 



