THE AMAZON ANT. 283 
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pupae, they were not only unable to rear the young, but could 
not even feed themselves, so that the greater number died from 
hunger. By way of experiment, a single specimen of the slave 
Ant ( Formica fused) was introduced into the case, when the 
state of affairs was at once altered. The tiny creature under- 
took the whole care of the family, fed the still living Amazon 
Ants, and took charge of the pupae until they were developed 
into perfect insects. 
Some writers have enlarged upon the hard lot of the slave 
Ants, imagining their servitude to be as distasteful to them as it 
is sometimes made to human slaves. Mr. Westwood, however, 
points out very clearly that any compassion bestowed upon 
them is wasted, and that the lot of the ‘helots ’ — if they may 
be so called— -is precisely that for which they were made. The 
labours which the little creatures undertake are not arbitrarily 
forced upon them by the dread of punishment, but are urged 
upon them by the instincts implanted within them. They 
would have worked in precisely the same manner and with ex- 
actly the same assiduity, in their own nests as in that of their 
captors, and the labours are undertaken as willingly in the one 
case as in the other. 
They find themselves perfectly at home, and are in every 
respect on a par with their so-called masters. In point of fact, 
however, the real masters in the nest are the slaves, for upon 
them the Amazons are dependent from their earliest days to 
the end of their life, and without them the entire community 
would perish. The slaves have no other home but that to 
which they have been brought, and are no more to be pitied 
than are dogs, cattle, and other domestic animals that never 
have freedom. Indeed, none but solitary animals can be free 
even in the wild state, for they are held in absolute servitude 
by the leaders of the herds, and, if they dare to disobey, are 
summarily punished. 
As the slaves are always neuters, it is necessary that fresh 
importations should be made as fast as the demand for workers 
exceeds the supply ; and it is really a wonderful thing that the 
