CHAP. X. NEGRO ANTS. 331 



have actually to feed their masters, and carry them 

 about the nest. These diversified labours are generally 

 shared by the negroes and the miners ; so that, when 

 slaves have been captured from both colonies, three 

 distinct races will be found in the same dwelling* So 

 indolent are all the habits of the slave-making ants, 

 except when engaged on their predatory excursions, 

 that they appear unwilling either to feed themselves, or 

 even to be at the trouble of walking. They are wholly 

 dependent, in fact, for everything, upon their slaves ; 

 and these, in consequence, as among mankind, 

 frequently seem to be the masters, and exercise in their 

 turn an authority over them. " They will not suffer 

 them, for instance, to go out before the proper season, 

 or alone ; and if they return from their excursions 

 without their usual booty, they give them a very indif- 

 ferent reception, showing their displeasure by attack- 

 ing them ; and when they attempt to enter the nest, 

 dragging them out." To ascertain what they would do 

 when obliged to trust to their own exertions, M. Huber 

 shut up thirty of the rufous ants in a glazed box, sup- 

 plying them with larvae and pupae of their own kind, 

 with the addition of several negro pupse, excluding very 

 carefully all their slaves, and placing some honey in a 

 corner of their prison. Incredible as it may seem, they 

 made no attempt to feed themselves ; and though, at 

 first, they paid some attention to their larvae, carrying 

 them here and there, as if too great a charge, they soon 

 laid them down again : most of them died of hunger 

 in less than two days ; and the few that remained alive 

 appeared extremely weak and languid. At length, 

 commiserating their condition, he admitted a single 

 negro; and this little active creature, by itself, esta- 

 blished order : it made a cell in the earth ; collected 

 the larvae, and placed them in it; assisted the pupae 

 that were ready to be developed ; and preserved the 

 lives of such of the rufous ants as still survived. What 

 a picture of beneficent industry, contrasted with the 

 hateful effects of sloth, does this interesting anecdote 



