SLAVE-MAKING ANTS. 53 



As with most ants, there are two sets of 

 workers among this species, one consider- 

 ably larger than the other, and the smaller 

 is larger than the slave-maker. It is the 

 most quiet, unobtrusive species which I have 

 ever observed. I have often met solitary 

 individuals in the pine-barrens of New Jer- 

 sey. They wander a long distance from the 

 nest, always singly, and return in a direct 

 line. I have followed one from the orchard, 

 a distance of several hundred yards, direct 

 to the nest, and it never seemed bewildered 

 nor made any useless deviations in its course. 



After the 20th of August there is a marked 

 change in the behavior of the slave-makers ; 

 they no longer make predatory excursions, 

 yet they are very active about the nest not 

 themselves doing any work, nor even feed- 

 ing, but they seem to be bringing the differ- 

 ent species which they have captured under 

 more perfect subjection. 



The cowardly black ants mentioned in the 

 preceding pages the very large colony capt- 

 ured and put to flight on the 23d of July 

 are now doing the principal work of excava- 

 tion, while the brown and yellow ants are 

 mostly the caterers and nurses of the com- 

 munity. 



Around the nest are four large oak leaves, 



