92 THE HUMANIZING OF THE BRUTE. 



plete change. Ever since that strange guest entered 

 the nest and deposited its eggs, all the care of the 

 ants is lavished upon the brood of the intruder, which 

 manifests an almost fabulous appetite and grows with 

 great rapidity. To satisfy the hunger of their "be- 

 loved" guests, the ants even allow them freely to de- 

 vour their own eggs and larvae, otherwise so precious 

 to them; yea to hasten the work of destruction, they 

 themselves carry the larvae of the L,omechusae to the 

 places where the eggs and the larvae of the ants are 

 stored up. 



Whence this strange phenomenon? Year after 

 year passes by. The conditions of the flourishing 

 colony become more and more threatening. But the 

 "most intellectual" ant is unable to see that its action 

 must necessarily result in the final ruin of the ant- 

 colony and species, and this the more so since the 

 beetles are quite numerous and their appetite most 

 voracious. 



(2) Nor is this all. To the rearing of the L,ome- 

 chusa by the Formica sanguinea it is also due that in 

 the colonies of the latter an abnormal form of ants is 

 produced, which in the course of time must neces- 

 sarily do additional damage to the colonies and species 

 of the Formica sanguinea. These abnormal forms are 

 called "ergatogynes," a word which according to its 

 Greek origin ( tpyAfriuu =to work, yvirf= female; part- 

 ly worker; partly female) fitly characterizes them. 

 Wasmann distinguishes six different forms, the most 

 important of which are the so-called pseudogynes 

 (t^evSijs = false) (Figs. 2-4). These animals are evi- 

 dently ruined existences. Unable, either to lay eggs 



