222 INSTINCT. Chap. VII. 



At the same time I laid on the same place a small 

 parcel of the pupae of another species, F. flava, with a 

 few of these little yellow ants still clinging to the frag- 

 ments of the nest. This species is sometimes, though 

 rarely, made into slaves, as has been described by Mr. 

 Smith. Although so small a species, it is very cour- 

 ageous, and I have seen it ferociously attack other ants. 

 In one instance I found to my surprise an independent 

 community of F. flava under a stone beneath a 

 nest of the slave-making F. sanguinea ; and when I 

 had accidentally disturbed both nests, the little ants 

 attacked their big neighbours with surprising coinage. 

 Now I was curious to ascertain whether F. sanguinea 

 could distinguish the pupae of F. fusca, which they 

 habitually make into slaves, from those of the little and 

 furious F. flava, which they rarely capture, and it was 

 evident that they did at once distinguish them : for we 

 have seen that they eagerly and instantly seized the 

 pupae of F. fusca, whereas they were much terrified 

 when they came across the pupae, or even the earth 

 from the nest of F. flava, and quickly ran away ; but in 

 about a quarter of an hour, shortly after all the little 

 yellow ants had crawled away, they took heart and car- 

 ried off the pupae. 



One evening I visited another community of F. san- 

 guinea, and found a number of these ants entering their 

 nest, carrying the dead bodies of F. fusca (showing that 

 it was not a migration) and numerous pupae. I traced 

 the returning file burthened with booty, for about forty 

 yards, to a very thick clump of heath, whence I saw the 

 last individual of F. sanguinea emerge, carrying a pupa ; 

 but I was not able to find the desolated nest in the 

 thick heath. The nest, however, must have been close 

 at hand, for two or three individuals of F. fusca were 

 rushing about in the greatest agitation, and one was 



