INSTINCT 867 



The latter ruthlessly killed their small opponents, and 

 carried their dead bodies as food to their nest, twenty- 

 nine yards distant; but they were prevented from getting 

 any pupae to rear as slaves. I then dug up a small par 

 eel of the pupae of F. fusca from another nest, and put 

 them down on a bare spot near the place of combat; they 

 were eagerly seized and carried off by the tyrants, who 

 perhaps fancied that, after all, they had been victorious 

 in their late combat. 



At the same time I laid on the same place a small 

 parcel of the pupae of another species, F. flava, with a 

 few of these little yellow ants still clinging to the frag- 

 ments of their nest. This species is sometimes, though 

 rarely, made into slaves, as has been described by Mr. 

 Smith. Although so small a species, it is very coura- 

 geous, and I have seen it ferociously attack other ants. In 

 one instance I found to my surprise an independent com- 

 munity of F. flava under a stone beneath a nest of the 

 slave-making F. sanguinea; and when I had accidentally 

 disturbed both nests, the little ants attacked their big 

 neighbors with surprising courage. Now I was curious 

 to ascertain whether F. sanguinea could distinguish the 

 pupae of F. fusca, which they habitually make into 

 slaves, from those of the little and furious F. flava, 

 which they rarely capture, and it was evident that they 

 did at once distinguish them; for we have seen that 

 they eagerly and instantly seized the pupge of F. fusca, 

 whereas they were much terrified when they came across 

 the pupas, or even the earth from the nest, of F. flava, 

 and quickly ran away; but in about a quarter of an 

 hour, shortly after all the little yellow ants had crawled 

 ^ i away, they took heart and carried off the pupae. 



