1 jo 



ANTS. 



lion of which is rarely more than 5-8 cm. long and 4 cm. in diameter. 

 Sometimes these' colonies are curiously intermingled in such a manner 

 that though there is no actual blending and the space under a single 

 leaf is always occupied by ants of the same species, nevertheless the 

 whole colonv or portions of a single colony may be completely sur- 

 rounded by leaf spaces occupied by another colony. The Tillandsia 

 ants, of which I have observed more than a dozen species (Pscudo- 

 iii \riiui cloiHjata and flaridnla, Monomorium floricola, Xcnomyrmcx 

 Incavanits. L'rcmastogastcr ininiitior and stcinlicili, Leptothorax pctio- 

 latiis, Cr\ptoccrns aztccns, various and whcclcri, Tapinoma littoralc, 

 L'ainponotns planatns, rubronigcr and iiueqnalis) are mostly small and 

 of a conciliatory or timid disposition. These various species, however, 

 \\keDoliclwdcnis dcbilis and Cremastogastcr parabiotica, frequently live 

 in independent nests in twigs, under bark, etc. 



C. Cleptobiosis. Forel (19016) suggests that this term be restricted 

 to those cases in which small ants establish their nests near or on the 



nests of larger species and 

 either feed on the refuse food 

 or waylay the workers when 

 they return to their home and 

 compel them to give up their 

 booty. Certain Dolichoderine 

 ants, like Tapinoma crrati- 

 cuin, Iridom\rmcx analis, 

 Forchns maccooki and Dory- 

 myrmex pyramicus, appear 

 to have developed habits of 

 this kind. Wroughton (1891) 

 has seen an Indian ant ( Cre- 

 mastogastcr') " lie in wait for 

 H olc o myrmcx, returning 

 Indo- home, laden with grain, and 

 by threats, rob her of her 

 load, on her own private road 

 and this manoeuvre was executed, not by stray individuals, but by 

 a considerable portion of the whole community." In the West 

 and Southwest Doryinynnex, as McCook ( 18790 and I have ob- 

 served, often builds its little craters within the bare clearings or 

 even on the nest cones of Pogonomyrmex molcfacicns and occi- 

 dcntalis and is not molested by these harvesters (Fig. 255). Dory- 

 myrmex is a very agile and pugnacious little ant with a rank Tapinoma 

 odor. It probably feeds on the remains of insects brought in by the 



FIG. 256. Carebara Ugnata of the 



malayan Region. (Bingham.) a, Female 

 antenna of same ; c, worker. 



b. 



