THE AMAZON AXT. 283 



pupae, they were not only unable to rear the young, but could 

 not even feed themselves, so that the greater number died from 

 hunger. By way of experiment, a single specimen of the slave 

 Ant {Formica fusca) was introduced into the case, when the 

 state of affairs was at once altered. The tiny creature under- 

 took the whole care of the family, fed the still living Amazon 

 Ants, and took charge of the pupae until they were developed 

 into perfect insects. 



Some writers have enlarged upon the hard lot of the slave 

 Ants, imagining their servitude to be as distasteful to them as it 

 is sometimes made to human slaves. Mr. Westwood, however, 

 points out very clearly that any compassion bestowed upon 

 them is wasted, and that the lot of the ' helots ' — if they may 

 be so called — is precisely that for which they .were made. The 

 labours which the little creatures undertake are not arbitrarily 

 forced upon them by the dread of punishment, but are urged 

 upon them by the instincts implanted within them. They 

 would have worked in precisely the same manner and with ex- 

 actly the same assiduity, in their own nests as in that of their 

 captors, and the labours are undertaken as willingly in the one 

 case as in the other. 



They fmd themselves perfectly at home, and are in every 

 respect on a par with their so-called masters. In point of fact, 

 however, the real masters in the nest are the slaves, for upon 

 them the Amazons are dependent from their earliest days to 

 the end of their life, and without them the entire community 

 would perish. The slaves have no other home but that to 

 which they have been brought^ and are no more to be pitied 

 than are dogs, cattle, and other domestic animals that never 

 have freedom. Indeed, none but solitary animals can be free 

 even in the wild state, for they are held in absolute servitude 

 by the leaders of the herds, and, if they dare to disobey, are 

 summarily punished. 



As the slaves are always neuters, it is necessary that fresh 

 importations should be made as fast as the demand for workers 

 exceeds the supply ; and it is really a wonderful thing that the 



