"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants were all of one sort; how then do they know one another so as to tell which party each one belongs to? I should think that sometimes they would make a mistake, and fight a friend instead of an enemy." "This, boys, is one of the most wonderful things concerning them. They are alike in form, and size, and weapons, and strength; and sometimes it happens that they do make a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their battles, says that they find it out directly, and caress each other with their feelers, and make up the difficulty at once. "Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to hear more?" "Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we are not at all tired." "I will then tell you of another kind of ants called legionary ants, and sometimes amazons; but I am sorry to say that they are unlike other ants, for they are lazy; and yet they live very comfortably." "How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they be comfortable without working?" "Yes, boys, if they can get others to work for them; and these have their work mostly done by their slaves." "By their slaves! what are their slaves, and where did they get them?" "As to your first question, boys, their slaves are ants of another kind; as to the second question--where they get them--they _stole_ them when they were young." "Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip." "I dare say I do. There are persons much older than you are who have never attended at all to the doings of insects, who would be very much astonished by the history of the legionary ants; and probably would laugh at the whole account as an idle story; and yet it is all true, and those who have read and seen, know it to be true; and they know, too, that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance. However, I always let such persons alone. I can do them no good; for they are apt to be very conceited, and will not be convinced. And now for the legionary ant. This is a fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned; and it actually steals the young of another kind, rears them, and puts all the work on them, so as to be idle itself. This curious fact was first found out by Mr. Huber; another gentleman, named Latreille, afterward saw the same thing; and now a great many naturalists know it, because they have sought for and seen it. The ant which it steals is of a dark ash colour; the legionary is of light colour. The dark-coloured ant is now called the negro ant, and is a very industrious, peaceable insect, without any sting. The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a sting, but very lazy. I shall relate to you the account which Mr. Huber gives of the legionary. He was walking near the city of Geneva during an afternoon in the summer of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these legionary ants crossing the road; they passed through a thick hedge, entered a pasture, and kept on through the grass without separating; and Mr. Huber