GO TO THE ANT 249 



foedinp: itself. So conipletoly dcpoiulcnt is each upon his 

 little black valot for daily bread, that he cannot so much 

 as help hinisolf to the food that is set before him. Iliiber 

 put a few slav(>holders into a box with some of their own 

 larvic and pnpje, and a supply of honey, in order to see 

 what they would do with them. Appalled at the novelty 

 of the situation, the slaveholders seemed to come to the 

 conclusion that something must be done ; so they bej^an 

 carrying the larva; about aimlessly in their mouths, and 

 rushing up and down in search of the servants. After a 

 while, however, they gave it up and came to the conclusion 

 that life under such circumstances was clearly intolerable. 

 They never touched the honey, but resigned themselves to 

 their fate 'ike ollicers and gentlemen. In less than two 

 days, half of them had died of hunger, rather than taste a 

 dinner which was not supplied to them by a properly con- 

 stituted footman. A.dmiring tlieir heroism or pitying their 

 incapacity, Iliiber at last gave them just one slave between 

 them all. The plucky little negro, nothing daunted by the 

 gravity of the situation, set to work at once, dug a small 

 nest, gathered together the larvju, helped several pupje out 

 of the cocoon, and saved the lives of the surviving slave- 

 owners. Other naturalists have tried similar experiments, 

 and always with the same result. The slaveowners will 

 starve in the midst of plenty rather than feed tluMuselves 

 without attendance. Either tlu y cannot or will not put 

 the food into their own mouths with their own mandibles. 

 There are yet other ants, such as the workerless Ancr- 

 (jatcs, in which the degradation of slaveholding has gone yet 

 further. These wretched creatures are theformican repre- 

 sentatives of those Oriental despots who are no longer even 

 warlike, but are sunk in sloth and luxury, and pass their 

 lives in eating bang or smoking opium. Once upon a time, 

 Sir John Lubbock thinks, the ancestors of Ancrgatcs were 



