JOINTED-LIMBED ANIMALS AS MESSMATES 177 



and hunting about, as if aware of the propinquity of the object 

 of their search, yet ignorant of its exact position. At last they 

 discover the settlement, and the foremost of the invaders, rushing 

 impetuously to the attack, are met, grappled with, and frequently 

 killed by the negroes on guard; the alarm is quickly communi- 

 cated to the interior of the nest; the negroes sally forth by 

 thousands, and, the red ants rushing to the rescue, a desperate 

 conflict ensues, which, however, always terminates in the defeat 

 of the negroes, who retire to the innermost recesses of their habi- 

 tation. Now follows the scene of pillage; the red ants with their 

 powerful mandibles tear open the sides of the negro ant-hill, and 

 rush into the heart of the citadel. In a few minutes each of the 

 invaders emerges, carrying in its mouth the pupa of a worker 

 negro, which it has obtained in spite of the vigilance and valour 

 of its natural guardians. The red ants return in perfect order 

 to their nest, bearing with them their living burdens. On reach- 

 ing the nest the pupae appear to be treated precisely as their own, 

 and the workers, when they emerge, perform the various duties 

 of the community with the greatest energy and apparent good- 

 will; they repair the nest, excavate passages, collect food, feed 

 the larvae, take the pupae into the sunshine, and perform every 

 office which the welfare of the colony seems to require; in fact, 

 they conduct themselves entirely as if fulfilling their original 

 destination." The Amazon Ants are practically incapable of 

 feeding themselves, being thus almost entirely dependent upon 

 the good offices of their slaves. They are, however, so fierce and 

 warlike that their dominance in the mixed community is easily 

 understood. Far more remarkable is the mode of life of a rare ant 

 (Anergates atratulus\ native to Central Europe, in which there 

 is no worker caste, but only females and wingless males, both 

 sexes being weak and helpless. Small numbers of them are 

 found associated with numerous workers of a small species 

 (Tetramorium e(espitum)> by which they and their offspring 

 are tended, and which are vastly their superiors in strength and 

 energy. How the association comes about is unknown, but it 

 has been suggested that a young fertile Anergates female makes 

 her way into a Tetramorium nest, destroys the queen and young, 

 and is accepted by the workers as their nominal sovereign. A 

 more likely view is that such a female enters a Tetramorium nest 

 containing only workers, and it appears that such nests do some- 



VOL. IV. 106 



