ANT COMMUNITIES 



around the confines of the nest, waiting for an oppor- 

 tunity to break through the barriers, or snook into some 

 chance opening by which they could reach their desired 

 prey. And this is a typical incident in ant world. 



Other insects, both in the larval and imago state, are 

 victims of this passion for hunting live game as fierce 

 and high as ever fired human devotees of the chase. 

 Who has not seen an unfortunate caterpillar writhing in 

 mortal agony beneath the assaults of a large squad of 

 small ants? In vain the victim struggles to throw 7 off 

 its assailants. Its fate is sealed. Spurred into violent 

 contortions by the smarting thrusts of stings and cuts 

 of mandibles, it flings its tormenters to this side and 

 that. They hold on grimly amid all the thrashings 

 until the quiet of death gradually falls. Then the great 

 carcass is dragged and pushed home by a gang of workers 

 or carried thither piecemeal, a vast addition to the 

 communal larder. 



While studying the agricultural ants in Texas, I 

 observed, after a summer shower, a great commotion 

 upon a large circular disk of one of the colonies. The 

 rain had beaten down a great number of the winged 

 forms of swarming termites, and upon these the red 

 agricultural were charging from all parts of the plaza. 

 They seized them in their jaws and ran toward the 

 central gate, out of which a file of their fellows was 

 eagerly streaming, intent upon sharing the rare find 

 of booty. The outgoing and incoming columns met. 

 The gate was soon choked up. The tiny rivulets caused 

 by the rain were setting in the same direction, and 

 presently a mass of excited insects was balled and matted 

 around the gate., pushing and tumbling over one another, 

 and splashing in the water. But the possessors of 



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