Peter Huber, the son of the celebrated observer of the manners and
habits of bees, walking one day in a field near Geneva, saw on the
ground a strong detachment of reddish-colored ants on the march, and
bethought himself of following them. On the flanks of the column, as
if to dress its ranks, a few sped to and fro in eager haste. After
marching for about a quarter of an hour, they halted before an ant-hill
belonging to some small black ants, and a desperate struggle took place
at its gates.
A small number of blacks offered a brave resistance; but the great
majority of the people thus assailed fled through the gates remotest
from the scene of combat, carrying away their young. It was just
these which were the cause of the strife, what the blacks most feared
being the theft of their offspring. And soon the assailants, who had
succeeded in penetrating into the city, might be seen emerging from it,
loaded with the young black progeny.
The red ants, encumbered with their living booty, left the unfortunate
city in the desolation of its great loss, and resumed the road to their
own habitation, whither their astonished and almost breathless observer
followed them. But how was his astonishment augmented when, at the
threshold of the red ants’ community, a small population of black ants
came forward to receive the plunder, welcoming with visible joy these
children of their own race, which would perpetuate it in the foreign
lands!
This, then, is a mixed city, where the strong warrior-ants live on a
perfectly good understanding with the little blacks. But what of the
latter? Huber speedily discovered that, in fact, they do everything.
They alone build; they alone bring up the young red ants and the
captives of their own species; they alone administer the affairs of
the community, provide its supplies of food, and wait upon and feed
their red masters, who, like great infant giants, indolently allow
their little attendants to feed them at the mouth. No other occupations
are theirs but war, theft, and kidnapping. No other movements in the
intervals than to wander about lazily, and bask in the sunshine at the
doors of their barracks.
Huber made an experiment. He was desirous of observing what would
be the result if the great red ants found themselves without
servants,--whether they would know how to supply their own wants.
He put a few into a glass case, and put some honey for them in a
corner, so that they had nothing to do but to take it. Miserable the
degradation, cruel the punishment with which slavery afflicts the
enslavers! They did not touch it; they seemed to know nothing; they had
become so grossly ignorant that they could no longer feed themselves.
Some of them died from starvation, with food before them!
Huber, to complete the experiment, then introduced into the case one
black ant. The presence of this sagacious slave changed the face of
things, and re-established life and order. He went straight to the
honey, and fed the great dying simpletons.
The little blacks in many things carry a moral authority whose signs
are very visible. They do not, for example, permit the great red ants
to go out alone on useless expeditions, but compel them to return
into the city. Nor are they even at liberty to go out in a body, if
their wise little slaves do not think the weather favorable, if they
fear a storm, or if the day is far advanced. When an excursion proves
unsuccessful, and they return without children, the little blacks are
stationed at the gates of the city to forbid their ingress, and send
them back to the combat; nay more, you may see them take the cowards by
the collar, and force them to retrace their route.
These are astounding facts; but they were seen, as here described, by
our illustrious observer. Not being able to trust his eyes, he summoned
one of the greatest naturalists of Sweden, Jurine, to his side, to
make new investigations, and decide whether he had been deceived.
This witness, and others who afterwards pursued the same course of
experiments, found that his discoveries were entirely accurate.
Yet after all these weighty testimonies, I still doubted. But on a
certain occasion I saw it--with my own eyes saw it--in the park of
Fontainebleau. I was accompanied by an illustrious philosopher, an
excellent observer, and he too saw exactly what I saw.
It was half-past four in the afternoon of a very warm day. From a pile
of stones emerged a column of from four to five hundred red or reddish
ants. They marched rapidly towards a piece of turf, kept in order by
their sergeants or “pivot-men,” whom we saw on the flanks, and who
would not permit any one to straggle. (This is a circumstance known to
everyone who has seen a file of ants on the march.)
Suddenly the mass seemed to sink and disappear. There was no sign
of ant-hills in the turf; but after a while we detected an almost
imperceptible orifice, through which we saw them vanish in less time
than it takes me to write these words. We asked ourselves if it was an
entrance to their domicile; if they had re-entered their city. In a
minute at the utmost they gave us a reply, and showed us our mistake.
They issued in a throng, each carrying a captive in its mandibles.
From the short time they had taken, it was evident that they had a
previous knowledge of the locality, the place where the eggs were
deposited, the time when they were to assemble, and the degree of
resistance they had to expect. Perhaps it was not their first journey.
The little blacks on whom the red ants made this raid sallied out in
considerable numbers; and I truly pitied them. They did not attempt
to fight. They seemed frightened and stunned. They endeavored only to
delay the red ants by clinging to them. A red ant was thus stopped;
but another red one, who was free, relieved him of his burden, and
thereupon the black ant relaxed his grasp.
It was, in fact, a pitiful sight. The blacks offered no serious
resistance. The five hundred ants succeeded in carrying off nearly
three hundred children. At two or three feet from the hole, the blacks
ceased to pursue them, and resigned themselves to their fate. All this
did not occupy ten minutes between the departure and the return. The
two parties were very unequal. It was very probably an outrage often
repeated--a tyranny of the great, who levied a tribute of children from
their poor little neighbors.