SIR J. LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 117 



ratively recently taken to slave- making, has not as yet been 

 materially aiFected. 



Folyerffics, on tke contrary, already illustrates tlie lowering 

 tendency of slavery. Tbey have lost tkeir knowledge of art, 

 their natural affection for their young, and even their instinct of 

 feeding ! They are, however, bold and powerful marauders. 



In Strong ylognathus, however, the enervating influence of 

 slavery has gone further, and told even on the bodily strength. 

 They are no longer able to capture their slaves in fair and opeu 

 warfare. Still they retain a semblance of authority, and, when 

 roused, will fight bravely, though in vain. 



In Anergates, finally, we come to the last scene of this sad his- 

 tory. "We may safely conclude that in distant times their ances- 

 tors lived, as so many ants do now, partly by hunting, partly on 

 honey ; that by degrees they became bold marauders, and gradu- 

 ally took to keeping slaves ; that for a time they maintained their 

 strength and agility, though losing by degrees their real inde- 

 pendence, their arts, and even many of their instincts ; that gra- 

 dually even their bodily force dwindled away under the enervating 

 influences to which they had subjected themselves, until they sauk 

 to their present degraded condition — weak in body and mind, 

 few in numbers, and apparently nearly extinct, — the miserable 

 representatives of far superior ancestors, maintaining a precarious 

 existence as contemptible parasites of their former slaves. 



It is conceivable that the Tetramoriums may have gradually 

 become harder and stronger ; the marauding expeditions would 

 then become less and less frequent. If, then, we suppose that 

 the females found it possible to establish themselves in nests of 

 Tetrainorium, the present state of things would almost inevitably 

 be by degrees established. 



Thus we may explain the remarkable condition of Strong ylogna- 

 thus, armed with weapons which it is too weak to use, and endowed 

 with instincts which it cannot exercise. 



Identification of Comimnions. 



With reference to the interesting problem as to how ants re- 

 cognize their companions, I have tried the following little expe- 

 riment. It is of course well known, and has been abundantly 

 proved by my experiments, that although, if a strange ant is in- 

 troduced into a community even of the same species, she is at 

 once attacked, yet, on the other hand, if a few ants belonging to 



