COMMUNICATING AND OTHER ANTS 73 



over the body of the insect, but it never interfered 

 in the efforts of the swarm. It recognized that the 

 labours of the community had been divided, that it 

 was its office to engage in the humble duty of ex- 

 cavation, while to others alone was assigned the 

 more adventurous work of capture. 



In the defence of the home they also divide their 

 labour. To the soldiers is the chief glory of the 

 battle. I have watched nests with stalwart and 

 ferocious soldiers posted at their gates. They stand 

 guard over the entrance, ready at a moment's notice 

 to hurl a reckless attack on an invader. In this 

 species the soldiers are very pugnacious and some- 

 times exert an autocratic tyranny over the smaller 

 workers ; for I have seen them, in the exertion of 

 their authority, crush and mangle in their powerful 

 jaws the workers of their own nest and rend them 

 into fragments. 



In their migrations, likewise, we see the same 

 principle in force, each one to its own duty. The 

 main burden of toil falls on the smaller workers. It 

 is they alone that transport the larvae, and they 

 often carry their companions from nest to nest. The 

 soldiers carry nothing. They are not humble toilers, 

 but are the directors of the transport. They are the 

 aristocracy of ant life. They hurry out of the nest 

 singly and at intervals with a throng of laden ants 

 following in their rear ; and as each powerful soldier 

 hastens along the migrating line, it looks like an 

 officer leading and directing his company of men. 

 Nor do the soldiers return again to the old nest. 

 The smaller workers, once they have deposited their 

 larvae in the new nest, hasten back for a fresh burden. 



