PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 85 
work ?”—No such thing, I assure you—the sole motive 
for their predatory excursions seems to be mere laziness 
and hatred of labour. Active and intrepid as they are 
in the field, at all other times they are the most helpless 
animals that can be imagined ;—unwilling to feed them- 
selves, or even to walk, their indolence exceeds that of 
the sloth itself. So entirely dependent, indeed, are they 
upon their negroes for every thing, that upon some oc- 
casions the latter seem to be the masters, and exercise a 
kind of authority over them. They will not suffer them, 
for instance, to go out before the proper season, or alone ; 
and if they return from their excursions without their 
usual booty, they give them a very indifferent reception, 
showing their displeasure, which however soon ceases, 
by attacking them ; and when they attempt to enter the 
nest, dragging them out. To ascertain what they would 
do when obliged to trust to their own exertions, Huber 
shut up thirty of the rufescent ants in a glazed box, sup- 
plying them with larva and pup of their own kind, 
with the addition of several negro pups, excluding very 
carefully all their slaves, and placing some honey in a 
corner of their prison. Incredible as it may seem, they 
made no attempt to feed themselves: and though at first 
they paid some attention to their larva, carrying them 
here and there, as if too great a charge they soon laid 
them down again; most of them died of hunger in less 
than two days; and the few that remained alive appeared 
extremely weak and languid. At length, commiserating 
their condition, he admited a single negro; and this lit- 
tle active creature by itself re-established order—made 
a cell in the earth; collected the larvee and placed them 
in it; assisted the pupee that were ready to be developed ; 
