220 
INSTINCT. 
Chap. VII. 
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 
truth of so extraordinary and odious an instinct as that 
of making slaves. Hence I will give the observations 
which I have myself made, in some little detail. I opened 
fourteen nests of F. sanguinea, and found a few slaves in 
all. Males and fertile females of the slave-species (F. 
fusca) are found only in their owm proper communities, 
and have never been observed in the nests of F. san¬ 
guinea. The slaves are black and not above half the size 
of their red masters, so that the contrast in their appear¬ 
ance is very great. When the nest is slightly disturbed, 
the slaves occasionally come out, and like their masters 
are much agitated and defend the nest: when the nest 
is much disturbed and the larvae and pupae are exposed, 
the slaves work energetically with their masters in car¬ 
rying them away to a place of safety. Hence, it is clear, 
that the slaves feel quite at home. During the months 
of June and July, on three successive years, I have 
watched for many hours several nests in Surrey and 
Sussex, and never saw a slave either leave or enter 
a nest. As, during these months, the slaves are very 
few in number, I thought that they might behave differ¬ 
ently when more numerous; but Mr. Smith informs me 
that he has watched the nests at various hours during 
May, June and August, both in Surrey and Hampshire, 
and has never seen the slaves, through present in large 
numbers in August, either leave or enter the nest. 
Hence he considers them as strictly household slaves. 
The masters, on the other hand, may be constantly 
seen bringing in materials for the nest, and food of all 
kinds. During the present year, however, in the month 
