| → returning home and entering 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| entering 1859 |
|
| → a long file of ants 1860 1861 1869 1872 |
| the returning file 1859 |
| a long life of ants 1866 |
|
| → an image of despair, over 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| over 1859 |
| an image of despair over 1872 |
|
|
could distinguish the pupæ 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
for we have seen that they eagerly and instantly seized the pupæ of F. fusca, whereas they were much terrified when they came across the pupæ, or even the earth from the
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 carried off the pupæ. |
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| One evening I visited another community of F. sanguinea, and found a number of these ants
→returning home and entering
their
carrying the dead bodies of F. fusca (showing that it was not a migration) and numerous pupæ. I traced
→a long file of ants
burthened with booty, for about forty
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 perched motionless with its own pupa in its mouth on the top of a spray of
→an image of despair, over
its ravaged home. |
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| Such are the facts, though they did not need confirmation by me, in regard to the wonderful instinct of making slaves. Let it be observed what a contrast the instinctive habits of F. sanguinea present with those of the
rufescens. The latter does not build its own nest, does not determine its own migrations, does not collect food for itself or its young, and cannot even feed itself: it is absolutely dependent on its numerous slaves. Formica sanguinea, on the other hand, possesses much fewer slaves, and in the early part of
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