Ants. 35 



panions to work an opening in the side of the ant- 

 hill with their teeth. Success crowned their enter- 

 prise, and by the newly-made breach the remainder 

 of the army entered. Their sojourn was, however, 

 of short duration, for in three or four minutes they 

 returned by the same apertures which gave them 

 entrance, each bearing off in its jaws a larva or a 

 pupa." 



5. The expeditions generally start in the after- 

 noon, and are from 100 to 2,000 strong. 



The Amazon Ant presents a striking lesson of the 

 degrading tendency of slavery, for these ants have 

 become entirely dependent on their slaves. Even 

 their bodily structure has undergone a change : the 

 mandibles have lost their teeth and have become 

 mere nippers, deadly weapons indeed, but useless 

 except in war. They have lost the greater part of 

 their instincts : their art that is, the power of 

 building ; their domestic habits, for they show no 

 care for their own young, all this being done by the 

 slaves; their industry for they take no part in 

 providing the daily supplies. If the colony changes 

 the situation of its nest the mistresses are all carried 

 by the slaves on their backs to the new one ; nay, 

 they have even lost the habit of feeding. Huber 

 placed 30 of them with some larvae and pupae and 

 a supply of honey in a box. " At first," he says, 

 " they appeared to pay some little attention to the 

 larvae, they carried them here and there, but pre- 

 sently replaced them. More than one-half of the 



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