818 INSECTA. 
enable them to enlarge the sphere of their industry, have a greater choice of 
material anda wider range of action. Thus the dwellingsof the hornet are 
formed of a light papyraceous substance, admirably adapted in the light- 
ness of the material tor being suspended in the air, and as wonderfully con- 
structed within, for the number of its inhabitants; while the bees collect a 
resinous substance, inpermeable to moisture, and capable from its ductility, 
of being moulded into any form. 
In the societies of insects which exist ina mixed form, that is, where there 
are workers of one or two other species, the internal economy an arranges 
ments are so wonderful, that, unless the fact had been witnessed and related 
by such naturalists as Humboldt and Huber, it would scarcely have com- 
manded belief. The workers of different species found in these warlile 
communities, taken by force in their early age, from neighboring ant-hills, 
become in their perfect state the auxiliaries of the captors or their slaves. But 
all the neuters of these communities have neither the same form nor func- 
tions; for some which M. Huber distinguishes by the name of Amazons, have 
long, narrow, arched mandibles without dentations, which, from their form, 
are neither proper for carrying nor preparing the materials of their habita- 
tion, and are evidently rather constructed as arms, for offence and defence, 
than as tools for mechanical arts. These individuals are, therefore, intend- 
ed by nature for warriors; to fight seems their strongest predilection ; 
and the rearing of their young, the most general instinctive feeling of 
animals, is in their case committed to the care of strangers whom they have 
taken captive. The other working ants do not take a part in the predatory 
excursions, unless driven to it by extreme want. The Amazonian ants, at 
a certain hour, quit their dwelling, and march in close column, more or less 
numerous, according to circumstances, towards the ant-hill previously recon- 
noitred — fight their way to its recesses, in spite of opposition—sieze in 
their mouths the larve and pupe of the neuters or workers, and, putting 
themselves again in marching order, return with their captives to their own 
eapitol. Itis upon the species named F’. fusca, that they chiefly exercise 
their power. M. Huber, led by a very striking analogy, compares the cap- 
tured ants, retained as workers by these warlike hordes, to the Helots of the 
Greeks and Romans, or to the negro slaves of modern Europeans. 
The Formica sanguinea affords an instance where all the workers are of sim- 
ilar forms, and engage in the same labors; and, though they do not seem to 
have a kind of standing army among them, like the Amazonian ants, follow 
‘he same warlike propensities. M. Huber has detailed the tactics of these 
»iail animals from observations made in the cantons of Switzerland, where 
the species is common, and demonstrated that the scourges of war and 
stavery are not confined alone to human beings. The bee, however, presents 
instinctive faculties of a more amiable nature. It has no carnivorous pre 
pensities ; and while some of the other insects which live in societies, sub 
#ist by rapine and destruction, this interesting animal pursues its peaceful 
