248 GO TO THE ANT 



little brown servants, like the aristocratic first families of 

 Virginia before the earthquake of emancipation. 



But there are other degraded ants, whose life-history 

 may be humbly presented to the consideration of the Anti- 

 Slavery Society, as speaking more eloquently than any 

 other known fact for the demoralising effect of slaveowning 

 upon the slaveholders themselves. The Swiss rufescent 

 ant is a species so long habituated to rely entirely upon the 

 services of slaves that it is no longer able to manage its 

 own affairs when deprived by man of its hereditary bonds- 

 men. It has lost entirely the art of constructing a nest ; 

 it can no longer tend its own young, whom it leaves entirely 

 to the care of negro nurses ; and its bodily structure even 

 has changed, for the jaws have lost their teeth, and have 

 been converted into mere nippers, useful only as weapons 

 of war. The rufescent ant, in fact, is a purely military 

 caste, which has devoted itself entirely to the pursuit of 

 arms, leaving every other form of activity to its slaves and 

 dependents. Officers of the old school will be glad to learn 

 that this military insect is dressed, if not in scarlet, at any 

 rate in very decent red, and that it refuses to be bothered 

 in any way with questions of transport or commissariat. 

 If the community changes its nest, the masters are carried 

 on the backs of their slaves to the new position, and the 

 black ants have to undertake the entire duty of foraging and 

 bringing in stores of supply for their gentlemanly pro- 

 prietors. Only when war is to be made upon neighbouring 

 nests does the thin red line form itself into long file for 

 active service. Nothing could be more perfectly aristocratic 

 than the views of life entertained and acted upon by these 

 distinguished slaveholders. 



On the other hand, the picture has its reverse side, 

 exhibiting clearly the weak points of the slaveholding 

 system. The rufescent ant has lost even the very power of 



