with the others that I was convinced. All told, the return to the
nest, including my earlier attempts, was verified in the case of four
species: the Chalicodoma of the Sheds, the Chalicodoma of the Walls,
the Three-horned Osmia and the Great or Warted Cerceris (Cerceris
tuberculata). ("Insect Life": chapter 19.--Translator's Note.) Shall I
generalize without reserve and allow all the Hymenoptera (The
Hymenoptera are an order of insects having four membranous wings and
include the Bees, Wasps, Ants, Saw-flies and Ichneumon-flies.--
Translator's Note.) this faculty of finding their way in unknown
country? I shall do nothing of the kind; for here, to my knowledge, is
a contradictory and very significant result.

Among the treasures of my harmas-laboratory, I place in the first rank
an Ant-hill of Polyergus rufescens, the celebrated Red Ant, the slave-
hunting Amazon. Unable to rear her family, incapable of seeking her
food, of taking it even when it is within her reach, she needs
servants who feed her and undertake the duties of housekeeping. The
Red Ants make a practice of stealing children to wait on the
community. They ransack the neighbouring Ant-hills, the home of a
different species; they carry away nymphs, which soon attain maturity
in the strange house and become willing and industrious servants.

When the hot weather of June and July sets in, I often see the Amazons
leave their barracks of an afternoon and start on an expedition. The
column measures five or six yards in length. If nothing worthy of
attention be met upon the road, the ranks are fairly well maintained;
but, at the first suspicion of an Ant-hill, the vanguard halts and
deploys in a swarming throng, which is increased by the others as they
come up hurriedly. Scouts are sent out; the Amazons recognize that
they are on a wrong track; and the column forms again. It resumes its