Wars and Slavery in the Animal Kingdom. 71 



young bees from the very first day are as well able to 

 use their instincts as are their seniors. Of late some 

 experiments have been made by Kogevnikov^ and 

 Butkewitsch^ on self-taught young bees. The results 

 were practically the same as in the case of the self- 

 taught ants. It was found that in the workers the 

 building of combs and the nursing of the young, and 

 in the queens the love of combat were hereditary 

 instincts, utterly independent of experience and instruc- 

 tion. Besides Charles Janet's excellent observations 

 on hornets^ show, that social insects are ruled only by 

 hereditary instincts, excited to their natural manifes- 

 tation by the very first experiences of the young indi- 

 vidual. The impulse of imitation with its various 

 incitements is only a secondary factor. This is the 

 truth regarding the captious shibboleth of "instruction 

 and tradition" in insect communities. 



No doubt, therefore, is left as to the fact that the 

 slavemaking habits and the military tactics of the san- 

 guineas, just as the social life of ants in general, are 

 due to instinct only, not to individual intelligence. 

 Yet, this instinct is not an absolutely blind impulse, 

 but is suitably modified according to the wants and 

 purposes of a given colony. A blind impulse to rob 

 and to rear slave pupae would be expected to impel 

 sanguinea colonies to rob the more slaves, the stronger 

 and more numerous they are themselves. In the most 

 populous nests we ought to find the greatest number 



*) "Zur Frage vom Instinct," in "Biolog. Centralbl," Vol. XVI 



(1896), No. 18, pp. 657-660. 



2) "Russisches Bienenzuchtblatt," April, 1896. See Kogevnikov 1. c, 

 ») "Memoires de la Societe Zoologique de France." T. VIII 



(1895). 



