142 ANTS AND ANT LIFE. 



mutilated by the bite, and were hanging loosely down. But 

 it was able to run. 



Most interesting naturally is the description of the 

 marauding excursions and slave hunts themselves, under- 

 taken from time to time by the Amazons, in order to bring 

 to their nests the greatest possible number of pupae of the 

 slave species, which latter are destined to become regular 

 slaves. These marauding excursions, and especially the 

 wars and battles of the ants, which will be hereafter 

 described, have so striking and surprising a resemblance to 

 the wars and battles of men, that it seems as though ants 

 had taken men, or men ants, for a model. For, to philo- 

 sophers, standing above the strife of parties and contem- 

 plating men, the relative circumstances are equally ridiculous 

 and contemptible, although the animal stands higher than 

 the man in so far as it generally fights only for the sake of 

 self-preservation, while among men the paltriest passions 

 often give rise to his continual wars and quarrels, destroying 

 the fruits of industry. Men will not emerge from their 

 half-animal past and reach the full development for 

 which they are destined, until everlasting peace and the 

 universal brotherhood of nations shall have changed the 

 present sad state of things for the attainment of the general 

 good. 



Lespes describes as follows a marauding excursion of the 

 Amazons watched by himself : " These expeditions only 

 take place towards the end of the summer and in autumn. 

 At this time the winged' members of the slave species 

 (F. fusca and F. cunicularia) have left the nest, and the 

 Amazons will not take the trouble to bring back useless 

 consumers. When the sky is clear our robbers leave their 

 town in the afternoon at about three or four o'clock. At 

 first no order is perceptible in their movements, but when 

 they are all gathered together they form a regular column, 

 which then moves forward quickly, and each day in a dif- 

 ferent direction. They march closely pressed together, and 

 the foremost always appear to be seeking for something on the 

 ground. They are each moment overtaken by others so 

 that the head of the column is continually growing. They 

 are in fact seeking the traces of the ants which they propose 

 to plunder, and it is scent that guides them. They snuff 

 over the ground like hounds following the track of a wild 



