HYMENOPTERA. 29 



water, where they were, of course, motionless. That ants have the power of com- 

 municating- intelligence admits of no doubt. Two ants were introduced, the one 

 to three hundred or six hundred larvae in one glass, the other to two or three in 

 another glass, each took a larva and returned to the nest. A larva was added to 

 the second glass every time one was taken. In forty- seven and a half hours the 

 ant which was introduced to the six hundred larvae had brought two hundred and 

 fifty-seven friends to help, while the other in fifty-three hours had brought but 

 eighty-two. 



The swarms of ants which in spring rise in clouds are males and females. 

 This is their nuptial dance, and for hours they circle and sport in the sunshine. 

 The males fall and die, or are destroyed by numerous foes. Nor is any assistance 

 offered them by the workers, who well know that their vocation in life has been 

 fulfilled, and they themselves are no longer of any use. The females having 

 divested themselves of their wings, with claws and legs, set about founding new 

 colonies. The eggs, however, must be nursed if they are to hatch, and are 

 subjected to much licking by the nurses. Then the larvae must be fed ; next, they 

 are carefully cleansed and carried for their daily walk through the lanes of the 

 nest. Not even after the grub has become a pupa is the ant allowed to emerge 

 without assistance. Biichner writes that "the little creature when freed from 

 its chrysalis is still covered with a thin skin, like a little shirt, which has to be 

 pulled off. When we see how neatly and gently this is done, and how the tiny 

 creature is then washed, brushed, and fed, we are involuntarily reminded of the 

 nursing of human babies." Next, they are taught their domestic duties, and to 

 distinguish between friend and foe. If the nest is attacked, the older and more 

 experienced fight, while the younger members remove the pupae to a place of safety. 



Ants not only feed upon the honey-dew dropped by plant-lice upon leaves, 

 but also rear aphide eggs, and feed the insects for the sake of their secretion. 

 Tunnels, or covered ways, are made by some ants up the branches of the trees 

 where the aphides live, so that the insects are enclosed and kept prisoners. 

 Certain portions of the tunnels are enlarged to form stables, where the aphides are 

 penned, the doors being large enough for the narrow ants to enter and leave, but 

 not for the rotund plant-lice to escape. The ' cows ' are induced to part with a 

 drop of honey-dew by a gentle stroking with the antennae, and general encourage- 

 ment of other kinds. Ants are far in advance of human dairymaids in the matter 

 of tact in dealing with their cows. Colonies of aphides have been carried by ants 

 to fresh pastures. 



It is no long step from cow-keeping to slave-making. At least three species 

 of ants indulge in this reprehensible practice. A raid is organised against a 

 neighbouring nest — warriors and workers are slain, and the pupae carried off, 

 hatched, and reared, soon to work and fight for their masters in the land of their 

 captivity. In some cases the slaves are kept for indoor occupation, and are carried 

 off, as part of their goods and chattels, by their masters, when they migrate into 

 new quarters. Another species does not work at all, neither males nor females ; 

 the workers — sterile females — capture slaves, but do no more. They neither feed 

 their young, nor make their nests, — a city-state entirely dependent on slave- 

 labour. Not only, however, do slave-making ants engage in expeditions against 



