Insects. 263 



of its making captives and slaves* of its less warlike neighbours ! 

 Three years ago I discovered some nests of this excavating species 

 in a sandbank on Cove common, in Hampshire, and I have visited 

 them every subsequent summer, but have never been so fortunate as 

 to witness one of their pitched battles ; in fact, until the present year 

 I observed nothing peculiar in their habits. On the morning of my 

 i arrival I went directly to the nests, and observed that some movement 



*" Slave Ants. — The most remarkable fact connected with the history of ants, is 

 the propensity possessed by certain species to kidnap the workers of other species, and 

 compel them to labour for the benefit of the community, thus using them completely 

 as slaves ; and, as far as we yet know, the kidnappers are red or pale-coloured ants, and 

 the slaves, like the ill-treated natives of Africa, are of a jet black. 



" The time for capturing slaves extends over a period of about ten weeks, and 

 never commences until the male and female ants are about emerging from the pupa 

 state, and thus the ruthless marauders never interfere with the continuation of the spe- 

 cies : this instinct seems specially provided, for were the slave ants created for no other 

 end than to fill the station of slavery to which they appear to be doomed, still even that 

 office must fail were the attacks to be made on their nests before the winged myriads 

 have departed, or are departing, charged with the duty of continuing their kind. 



" When the red ants are about to sally forth on a marauding expedition, they send 

 scouts to ascertain the exact position in which a colony of negroes may be found ; these 

 scouts having discovered the object of their search, return to the nest and report their 

 success. Shortly afterwards the army of red ants marches forth, headed by a van- 

 guard, which is perpetually changing ; the individuals which constitute it, when they 

 have advanced a little before the main body, halting, falling into the rear, and being 

 replaced by others : this vanguard consists of eight or ten ants only. When they have 

 arrived near the negro colony, they disperse, wandering through the herbage and hunt- 

 ing about, as if aware of the propinquity of the object of their search, yet ignorant of 

 its exact position. At last they discover the settlement, and the foremost of the inva- 

 ders rushing impetuously to the attack, are met, grappled with, and frequently killed 

 by the negroes on guard : the alarm is quickly communicated to the interior of the 

 nest; the negroes sally forth by thousands, and the red ants rushing to the rescue, a 

 desperate conflict ensues, which, however, always terminates in the defeat of the ne- 

 groes, who retire to the inmost recesses of their habitation. Now follows the scene of 

 pillage; the red ants, with their powerful mandibles, tear open the sides of the negro 

 ant-hill, and rush into the heart of the citadel. In a few minutes each of the invaders 

 emerges, carrying in its mouth the pupa of a worker negro, which it has obtained in 

 spite of the vigilance and valour of its natural guardians. The red ants return in per- 

 fect order to their nest, bearing with them their living burdens. On reaching the nest 

 the pupae appear to be treated precisely as their own, and the workers, when they 

 emerge, perform the various duties of the community with the greatest energy and ap- 

 parent good will ; they repair the nest, excavate passages, collect food, feed the larvae, 

 take the pupae into the sun-shine, and perform every office which the welfare of the co- 

 lony seems to require ; in fact, they conduct themselves entirely as if fulfilling their 

 original destination." — Neivmati's ' Familiar Introduction to the Natural History of 

 Insects^ p. 50. 



