SLAVE-MAKING AMONG ANTS 39 



The slave-making instinct, which occurs in many 

 species of ants, is the most curious phenomenon of 

 insect-life. Doubtless it leads to the direct attack of 

 a community of one species on a community of 

 another species, with the result that the pupae of 

 the attacked nest are secured. The stolen pupae are 

 reared in the home of their capturers, and the captives 

 feed and tend their masters. I hazard the suggestion 

 that this instinct is no more than a perversion of 

 the elaborate care exhibited by all species of ants 

 to their own young. If the nest of any species be 

 disturbed, so that the pupae (the ants' eggs of 

 commerce) are exposed, the ants at once lay hold of 

 them and try to drag them off to a place of safety. 

 I should think that ants would automatically 

 treat the pupae of any other nest in similar fashion. 

 But however the slave-making habit may have 

 arisen, such a violent manifestation of the struggle 

 for existence has led to results which do not encourage 

 intelligent human beings to imitate it. For the 

 instinct has led to a progressive degeneration of the 

 species in which it is found, and instead of being an 

 advantage, may lead to extinction. 



In comparing insects and men, we have to remem- 

 ber that the analogy is vitiated because of the extreme 

 difference in mental constitution. Social insects re- 

 present what is probably the highest stage of the 

 elaboration of instinctive action, man the highest 

 stage that has been reached in the development of 

 conscious, intelligent action. We may agree with 

 Professor Bergson that unconscious instinct is closer 

 to the heart of life, and that it is the highest ex- 

 pression of the vital force, or we may believe that 







