234 
ON THE PHYSICAL POWER OF INSECTS. 
have many a time searched Ants’ nests in the hope of finding some kind of store¬ 
house, to serve as a reserve in the event of a continuance of wet summer weather, 
hut have invariably been disappointed, save in one solitary instance, where I 
came on a gallery filled with the debris of insects of all sorts; a closer examina¬ 
tion of these proved that they were only the refuse, the nutritive parts being 
already consumed. The small pieces of bread, grains of corn, Flies, &c. &c., 
which at some seasons the Ants freely take from the hand, are removed to the 
nest for the food of the young. 
Honey seems the most favourite delicacy with all of the species, more parti¬ 
cularly that produced by the Aphides, and called honey-dew. The Ants, on 
removing this from the leaves of the plants on which it is deposited, materially 
help to preserve the health and vigour of vegetation. 
The younger Huber devoted much of his attention to the labours of the Ants 
of Germany and Switzerland. Some of his observations are so very remarkable 
that, though supported by his high character for veracity, they still appeat 
^arguing a priori .— Ed.] scarcely credible. Subsequent investigations, however, 
all tend to confirm his accuracy, although no later observers have entered into or 
seen so much of the detail as he has. 
Huber discovered two new species, one of which he termed the Amazon Ant, 
the other the Sanguinary Ant. Both of these consist of communities of warriors, 
which make war against Ants of a different species from their own; not at all to 
gratify a mere love for combat, but, strange to say, for a far more mercenary 
purpose, viz., to make slaves of the vanquished, to be afterwards trained to 
do the drudging domestic work of the conquerors. The ingenuity they display 
in effecting this calls for the utmost stretch of our credulity. Should the observa¬ 
tions of later years fully establish and confirm what Huber has said on this head, 
it will form by far the most remarkable proceeding in the co-operative labours 
of insects. 
After a contest is decided—-which the warlike Ants contrive always to end 
in their own favour—they do not make captives of the grown-up part of the 
vanquished community—no doubt because they well know these to be of a spirit 
too refractory to be ever available for much good—but carry off the eggs and 
cocoons, to rear a race in bondage that have never known the benefits of freedom. 
Other naturalists have not as yet had the good fortune to witness these slave¬ 
capturing engagements, but so far have they been confirmed, that the slaves are 
frequently seen at work in the habitations of the warlike Ants their masters. 
The Hive Bee (Apis mellifica) affords one of the most striking examples of the 
skill and power of the insect architects; their wonderful proceedings have long 
engaged the attention of the curious. The instructions given by Virgil for the 
choice of a situation for an apiary, are considered at the present time quite as 
