HUNTING — FISHING— WARS AND EXPEDITIONS. 55 



handed assisting heavily-laden comrades. The Eciton 

 drepanopliora attacks and carries off all kinds of 

 insects, especially wingless species, such as maggots, 

 caterpillars, larvae of cockroaches, etc. An eyeless 

 species,^ the Eciton erratica, rapidly forms covered 

 passages under which to advance, and shows great 

 skill in fitting the keystone to these convex arcades.^ 



Belt has also made some extremely interesting 

 observations on the Ecitons, whom for intelligence he 

 places first among the ants of Central America, and 

 as such at the head of the Articulata.^' 



Expeditions to acquire slaves. — In order to reduce 

 one's own species to slavery, it seems at first that an 

 intelligence is required as developed as that of Man. 

 It is necessary in fact to attack beings nearly equally 

 well endowed from an intellectual and physical 

 point of view. The enterprise evidently presents 

 every possible difficulty ; but in case of success, 

 the result more than compensates for the effort. The 

 master in future need not trouble to work, for he 

 possesses a tool capable of doing everything as well as 

 himself, since by means of language he can easily 

 impress his will on the acts of the other ; a domestic 

 animal is only an auxiliary, the slave entirely replaces 

 his owner in every labour. 



Several species of ants thus obtain slaves. The 

 best known of these is the Polyergns rufescens. We 

 shall see in another chapter in what way they take 

 advantage of slaves, and what relations they have with 



1 Belt points out that blindness is an advantage in the particular 

 mode of hunting adopted by these ants, enabling them to keep to- 

 gether. Those species of EcUon which hunt singly have very well 

 developed eyes. 



^ Bales, Naturalist on the Amazon^ (edition of 1892), pp. 355-363. 



^ See Naturalist in Nicaragua, 1888, pp. 17-29. 



