Chap. VIII.] SLAVE-MAKING INSTINCT. 337 



father. This ant is absolutely dependent on its slaves ; 

 without their aid, the species would certainly become 

 extinct in a single year. The males and fertile females 

 do no work of any kind, and the workers or sterile 

 females, though most energetic and courageous in 

 capturing slaves, do no other work. They are inca- 

 pable of making their own nests, or of feeding their 

 own larvae. When the old nest is found inconvenient, 

 and they have to migrate, it is the slaves which deter- 

 mine the migration, and actually carry their masters in 

 their jaws. So utterly helpless are the masters, that 

 when Huber shut up thirty of them without a 

 slave, but with plenty of the food which they like 

 best, and with their own larvae and pupae to stimu- 

 late them to work, they did nothing; they could not 

 even feed themselves, and many perished of hunger. 

 Huber then introduced a single slave (F. fusca), and she 

 instantly set to work, fed and saved the survivors ; 

 made some cells and tended the larvae, and put all to 

 rights. What can be more extraordinary than these 

 well-ascertained facts ? If we had not known of any 

 other slave-making ant, it would have been hopeless 

 to speculate how so wonderful an instinct could have 

 been perfected. 



Another species, Formica sanguinea, was likewise first 

 discovered by P. Huber to be a slave-making ant. This 

 species is found in the southern parts of England, and 

 its habits have been attended to by Mr. F. Smith, of 

 the British Museum, to whom I am much indebted for 

 information on this and other subjects. Although fully 

 trusting to the statements of Huber and Mr. Smith, I 

 tried to approach the subject in a sceptical frame of 

 mind, as any one may well be excused for doubting the 



