THE POXEK1XE ANTS. 229 



ants had returned up the limb, so that the nest was not only below but 

 also two feet above ground, and larvae were found in the portion above 

 the ground level." M. forficata is unusually fierce and will " follow 

 an intruder for quite thirty feet from the nest in the hope of getting 

 a parting bite." This ant is also more nocturnal in its habits, F. san- 

 guinea more diurnal and of a gentler disposition, although both species 

 are fond of the light and inhabit spots exposed to the sun. The bull- 

 dog ants, according to Barker, are very fond of water. They not only 

 drink it but bathe and swim in it. He frequently saw them " vol- 

 untarily leave one side of a six-inch dish and swim across to the other." 

 Sharp cites Lowne as saying " that M. gulosa attacks large beetles of 

 the genus Anoplognathus and buries them; and he also adds the state- 

 ment that M. nigrodncta, when running, is able to take leaps of a foot 

 in length." Froggatt (1905) has published on Myrmecia forficata. 



FIG. 128. North American Proceratii. a, Sysphincta pergandci, worker: b, Procera- 



tiiiin silaceit/n. (Emery.) 



gulosa, tarsata and nigrodncta, a number of notes which confirm many 

 of the statements of previous observers. M. nigrodncta he designates 

 as the "jumper" and says that "at the first alarm they come jumping 

 out from the side door of their raised mound, .which is generally on the 

 ground level, one after the other, like a pack of dogs, and fasten on to 

 the first thing they come across; as there is usually a large opening in 

 the top of the nest, the unwary investigator, who has not learned about 

 the side door, generally discovers it through a rear attack when the 

 jumpers swarm up his legs and begin their, investigations." The 

 jumping habit of this ant is not surprising when we consider that sev- 

 eral other Ponerinse (Harpegnathus, Odontomachus) also have the 

 power of leaping (see p. 180). The establishment of colonies by species 

 of Myrmecia has not been observed, but that they have a nuptial flight 



