ANT COMMUNITIES 



After one raid, as late as 7 A.M., the ground was still 

 heaped with the slain, and an unbroken stream of ants 

 fifty-six yards long was taking them away, every porter 

 having two or three of the dead in its jaws. 



Sometimes the tables would be sharply turned upon 

 the plunderers. If they chanced to cross the territory 

 of a commune of harvesting ants after they had opened 

 their gates and were abroad on morning duty, the 

 Lobopelta hordes had to flee before their betters, often 

 abandoning their booty. Yet, per contra, the observer 

 once saw a Lobopelta, who had come to the aid of a com- 

 rade assaulted by a harvester, after vainly trying to tear 

 off the aggressor, deliberately pick up both comrade and 

 assailant, and carry them off together! Apparently 

 both were so intent upon the personal combat that they 

 gave no heed to the deportation. 



Leptogenys elongata feeds largely upon the common 

 wood slaters (Omiscus and Armadillidium), which abound 

 under stones and logs in shady sites where the formi- 

 caries are placed. [W. 8, p. -253.] The workers have re- 

 peatedly been seen carrying dead slaters in their mandi- 

 bles, and the space surrounding the gates is white with 

 bleaching limbs and segments of the crustaceans, a proof 

 that great numbers of these animals must be destroyed 

 by the ants. Their long, toothless mandibles resemble 

 scissors, and are well adapted for piercing the inter- 

 segmental membranes of their prey and exposing edible 

 parts. This ant appears to be the only one known to 

 feed on crustaceans as a regular diet. Other species 

 are insectivorous, granivorous, mycetophagous (fungus 

 eating) feeders on the sweet, liquid excretions and secre- 

 tions of insects, or the juices and sugary exudations of 

 fruits, plants, and galls, and on animal fats and oils. 



120 



