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
carried off the pupae.
One evening I visited another community of F. sanguinea, and found a number
of these ants returning home and entering their nests, carrying the dead
bodies of F. fusca (showing that it was not a migration) and numerous
pupae. I traced a long file of ants burdened with booty, for about forty
yards back, 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 perched motionless with its
own pupa in its mouth on the top of a spray of heath, an image of despair
over its ravaged home.
Such are the facts, though they did not need confirmation by me, in regard
to the wonderful instinct of making slaves.
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