74 ON THE HABITS OF ANTS. [lect. 



a species hitherto unnamed, which Mr. Verrall has been 

 good enough to describe for me. They lay their eggs 

 on the ants, inside which the larvae live. Other species 

 of the genus, are in the same way parasitic on bees. In 

 one case I observed that one of my ants had a mite 

 attached to the under side of her head. The mite, which 

 remained continuously in the same position, was almost 

 as large as the head. The ant could not remove it 

 herself. She did not come out of the nest, so that I 

 could not do it for her, and none of her own companions 

 for three months, during which I watched her, thought 

 of performing this kind office. 



In character the different species of ants differ very 

 much from one another. F. fusca, the one which is 

 pre-eminently the enslaved ant, is, as might be expected, 

 extremely timid ; while the nearly allied F. cinerea 

 has, on the contrary, a considerable amount of indi- 

 vidual audacity. F. rufa, the horse ant, according to 

 M. Forel, is especially characterized by the want of 

 individual initiative, and always moves in troops ; he 

 also regards the genus Formica as the most brilliant, 

 though some others excel it in other respects ; for 

 instance, in the sharpness -of their senses. F. pratensis 

 worries its slain enemies ; F. sanguinea never does. 

 The slave-making ant (P. rufescens) is, perhaps, the 

 bravest of all. If a single individual finds herself sur- 

 rounded by enemies, she never attempts to fly, as any 

 other ant would, but transfixes her opponents one after 

 another, springing right and left with great agility, 

 till at length she succumbs, overpowered by numbers. 

 M. scabrinodis is cowardly and thievish - y during wars 

 among the larger species, they haunt the battle-fields 



