THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 181 



the number of helots which the nest contains. In Switzer- 

 land Huber observed that the slaves generally woi'k at the 

 construction of the dwelling inhabited by the tribe, and 

 that, like vigilant gatekeepers, they open the outlets at 

 daybreak, and carefully close them when evening or a 

 storm of rain comes on. 



In England, according to Darwin, the life of the slaves 

 is much more sedentary than elsewhere. This observer 

 has never seen them issue from the nest, where they occupy 

 themselves merely with domestic work. But, as he says, 

 this is perhaps owing to the greater number of servants 

 seen among the Swiss sj^ecies, which allows of part of 

 the work outside being confided to them. 



All kinds of ants do not so easily adapt themselves to 

 slavery. There are some very small ones, such as the 

 yellow ant, which set the Amazons at defiance, and 

 although much weaker, frighten them by their mien: 

 courage supplies the Avant of strength. Hence the blood- 

 red ant, which is one of the most thorough-going slave- 

 makers we are acquainted with, never attempts to plunder 

 the dwelling of the yellow ant, which fights with fury to 



apparently in a state of distraction, as if it did not know what to do with it. Two 

 ants were often seen tugging at the same piece for a long while, which was cer- 

 tainly a waste of time; and a piece of stone was often dragged backward and 

 forward by two ants in their galleries, from a mere spirit of opposition it would 

 seera. Again, an ant might be seen to come out of a gallery with something in 

 its mouth, run about with it and put it down, having apparently lost itself ; a 

 proceeding which it terminated by disappearing down another hole. Sometimes, 

 too, they would go on excavating without removing the rubbish till they were 

 nearly or quite blocked in, or till there was oidy room for one to pass. He admits, 

 however, their sagacity in ejecting tlie dead bodies of their comrades, and throw- 

 iufT them into a tank; their wonderful industry, and their courage. The species 

 observed by Mr. Ward also seems to have been the Formica fuliginosa. The 

 fact that ants work all through the night, and indeed seem never to sleep, was 

 noticed more than a hundred and fifty years ago in a paper assigned to 

 Addison, but really translated by De La Roche from the Mercurie Oahmt, 

 — Guardian, voL ii. No. 156. — Tr. 



