Chap. VIII.] SLAVE-MAKING INSTINCT. 337 



by Pierre Hiihcr, a better observer even than his cele- 

 brated father. This ant is absolutely dependent on its 

 slaves; without their aid, the species would certainly be- 

 come extinct in a single year. The males and fertile fe- 

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

 females, though most energetic and courageous in cap- 

 turing slaves, do no other work. They are incapable 

 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 determine 

 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 stimulate 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 wonder- 

 ful 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 



