240 .-IXTS. 



although of a rich yellowish red color, which they retain for several 

 days, are neverthrlr- soon able to run about and to join in the labors 

 of the colony. The queens show no tendency to leave the nest and 

 usually lose their wings (after copulation?) while still in the red, callow 

 condition. 



In none of our North American Ponerinae have I seen any tendency 

 to deport adult members of the colony, except in Lobopclta clongata, 

 the workers of which, when the nest is disturbed, carry the males away 

 as if they were cocoons or larvae. Nor have I seen any tendency on 

 the part of the workers to hunt in files. But both of these habits, 

 which are so conspicuous in more specialized ants, appear to be devel- 

 oped in some of the tropical Ponerinae. Forel (i894/) quotes the fol- 

 lowing observations of Ilg on Ophthaluwpone ilgii of southern Abys- 

 sinia: "One day my servants came to tell me that if I wished to see 

 a great many ants at one time, there was a fine opportunity, as every 

 evening, about an hour before sunset, a whole compact army crept out 

 of a hole to disappear into it half an hour later. Having had my atten- 

 tion called to the matter and wishing to know what was going on, I 

 posted a servant in front of the hole, where not a single ant was to 

 be seen, and hurried to the spot as soon as I was told that the per- 

 formance was about to begin. I saw, in fact, a dense procession of 

 large black ants issuing from the hole and collecting in front of it till 

 they formed a stately assemblage. Suddenly the whole mass, headed 

 by a leader, hurried forward in a dense file, while one company of 

 barely fifty individuals stood for a few moments in front of the hole 

 and then disappeared into it. Curious to know what the little fellows 

 were about, I followed them cautiously, in order not to disturb them, 

 for a distance of about fifty meters. They directed their course 

 towards my traveling bags, and I began to suspect that they were going 

 to steal my rice. To my great astonishment, however, they crept 

 under the covers of my water-bags and I surmised that they might be 

 thirsty. Nothing of the kind. When I carefully raised the covers, I 

 found my rascals fighting fiercely with the white ants (termites ) which 

 make their appearance in the desert wherever water has soaked into 

 the ground. Notwithstanding the valiant opposition they encountered, 

 each of the black rascals eventually seized a poor little termite between 

 its shining mandibles, bore it aloft and hurried back as fast as the 

 grass, stones, etc., would permit. I was surprised to see a rather large 

 fellow about two meters from the battle-field halt each termite-laden 

 robber as he came up, till nearly all of them, each with his poor victim, 

 were assembled on the same spot. But this was not all. About thirty 

 or forty of the ants dropped their booty and returned to the battle- 



