I cheerfully bear witness to the fact that the great myrmecologist, Huber, was correct in his description of his experiment with the black slave.[79]
[79] Huber, _The Natural History of Ants_, p. 249; quoted also by Lubbock, _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_, p. 83; Romanes, _Animal Intelligence_, p. 65; Kirby and Spence, _Entomology_, p. 369 _et seq._
Our species of blacks and reds differ but very little in form and habits from their European kin; so the experiment may be easily performed by any one at all interested in this remarkable instance of "slave master, and master slave."--W.
Like Huber, I put some of these red slave-owners into a glass jar in which I placed an abundance of food. Notwithstanding the fact that this food was easy of access, being in fact immediately beneath their jaws, they would not touch it! I then placed a black slave in the jar; she at once went to her masters, and, after thoroughly cleansing them with her tongue, gave them food. These red ants would have starved to death in the midst of plenty, if they had been left to themselves.
This, at first glance, would seem to indicate an utter absence of reason in these red slave-owners. Such a conclusion, however, is by no means true. The facts indicate mental degeneration. So utterly subservient had they become to the ministration of the slaves, that they had even lost the faculty of feeding themselves!
Here, we have an example of degeneration in the mentality of an animal incident to the enervating influence of slavery. Sir John Lubbock's remarks anent the four genera of slave-making ants are so interesting that I may be pardoned for quoting them entire. Says he:--
"These four genera" (_Formica sanguinea_, _Polyergus_, _Strongylognathus_, _and Anergates_) "offer us every gradation from lawless violence to contemptible parasitism.
"_Formica sanguinea_, which may be assumed to have comparatively recently taken to slave-making, has not yet been materially affected.
"_Polyergus_, on the contrary, already illustrates the lowering tendency of slavery. They have lost their knowledge of art, their natural affection for their young, and even the instinct of feeding. They are, however, bold and powerful marauders.
"In _Strongylognathus_ the enervating influence of slavery has gone further, and told even on the bodily strength. They are no longer able to capture their slaves in open warfare. Still they retain a semblance of authority, and, when aroused, will fight bravely, though in vain.