46 JOURXAL, BOMBAY XATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



smaragdina had oiily the road to cross, — one big tree and one tele- 

 graph-post, — and they would be onto my favourite nest of rufo-nigra. 

 This was in March, but it was not until April that smaragdina cross- 

 ed the road, and I observed the workers gathering in numbers about 

 the end of the big tree and the telegraph-post, but my tree was still un- 

 molested. On Sunday, April 29th, however, the fight commenced ; 

 smaragdina were clustering round the tree, and making futile efforts 

 to ascend, for rufo-nigra mustered in strength in a ring round the 

 base of the trunk, and successfully repelled every effort of smaragdina 

 to effect a lodgment. Ant for ant rufo-nigra was far more than a 

 match for smaragdina, and the yellow ants were routed by the red and 

 black. There were (as far as I could see) no killed on either side, 

 and when I left, after watching some hours, rufo-nigra was master 

 of the situation, and smaragdina retiring to the big tree and tele- 

 graph-post. 



The next Sunday, May 6th, I again visited the tree, and to my 

 suprise a great change had taken place in the position of the two 

 species. There were no yellow ants round the base of the tree, but 

 ■smaragdina appeared in great numbers high up on the trunk on the 

 north side, and were descending towards the red and black in the 

 shape of a wedge, the base spreading almost across the north side of 

 the trunk, then tapering off to a point, the apex being formed by a 

 single ant supported by two, the tiro by a line of three or four, and so 

 on. When I arrived this spear-head of ants was about two feet above 

 the entrance of Pseudomgrma's nest (which was a little on the west 

 side of the tree) ; it was not advancing, but almost stationary, the 

 only movement being made by the few forming the apex : rufo-nigra 

 clustered in numbers round the entrance to their nest, but did not 

 attempt any counter move in force or combined effort ; they content- 

 ed themselves with light skirmishing with the point of the smarag- 

 dina formation, but here, though they tried many times, they could 

 make no impression ; rufo-nigra invariably engaged yellow ant No. 1, 

 the apex; No. 1 instantly backed on Nos. 2 and 3 in the second line, 

 which brought an enemy on either flank, which was too great odds, 

 and rufo-nigra would have much difficulty in disengaging herself. 

 This went on for some hours, till I had to leave. I never saw any 

 killed, but the apex of the yellows was once or twice relieved from 



