SLAVE-MAKING ANTS. 13 



in our own country observers have not had 

 the time or patience for such exclusive at- 

 tention to this family ; hence there is much 

 conflicting testimony, especially with re- 

 gard to the habits of the slave-making spe- 

 cies Formica sanguined. 



In the following pages I shall give a brief 

 account of the wonderful wars and con- 

 quests over other tribes made by a powerful 

 colony of this slave-making species. It is 

 the result of several weeks' close observa- 

 tion, to the exclusion of all other work, com- 

 mencing the 1st of July and extending into 

 August. 



The nest was in a grove that surrounds 

 the house, and must have contained several 

 thousand working inhabitants. About fifty 

 feet from the nest of red slave-makers was 

 a nest of black ants (Formica fusca), and I 

 should judge this colony to be fully as large 

 and strong as that of the red ants. 



Externally the two nests did not differ 

 very much. The red ants raised a slight 

 mound, while the blacks had simple excava- 

 tions about the roots of an oak-tree. These 

 two nests had been under my observation 

 for at least three years, and yet I more than 

 half doubted that these reds were really 

 slave-makers. The blacks were my favor- 



