On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for LifeDarwin, Charles
Science
On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Natural selection
Formica sanguinea was likewise first discovered by P. Huber to be a
slave-making ant. This species is found in the southern parts of
England, and its habits have been attended to by Mr. F. Smith, of 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 are found only in their own
proper communities, and have never been observed in the nests of F.
sanguinea. The slaves are black and not above half the size of their
red masters, so that the contrast in their appearance 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 larvæ and pupæ are exposed, the slaves
work energetically with their masters in carrying 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
differently 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, though 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
of July, I came across a community with an unusually large stock of
slaves, and I observed a few slaves mingled with their masters leaving
the nest, and marching along the same road to a tall Scotch-fir-tree,
twenty-five yards distant, which they ascended together, probably in
search of aphides or cocci. According to Huber, who had ample
opportunities for observation, in Switzerland the slaves habitually
work with their masters in making the nest, and they alone open and
close the doors in the morning and evening; and, as Huber expressly
states, their principal office is to search for aphides. This
difference in the usual habits of the masters and slaves in the two
countries, probably depends merely on the slaves being captured in
greater numbers in Switzerland than in England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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