NOTES ON INDIAN ANTS. M 



about two feet. In this my observations did not agree with the late 

 Mr. Ohas. Home's, who found that (EeophyUa had a great antipathy 

 to Pelistes ; and in his paper on Hymenoptera from the North-West 

 Provinces gives a very interesting account of the attacks of the 

 yellow ant on the yellow wasp ; but in my case the ants were not quite 

 under natural conditions, which may easily account for their leaving 

 the wasps alone. And I was never able to find (Ecophylla and 

 Polktes inhabiting the same tree ; but I think the observation is of 

 interest as tending to show that ants under slightly altered condi- 

 tions will often show different traits of character or instinct. 



During the time I kept (EeophyUa in confinement I found they 

 were very stupid in any efforts they made at escape ; they would 

 occasionally tumble off the brick island into the water, although 

 within an inch would be a bridge purposely arranged for their use. 

 When (EeophyUa did fall in the water they collapsed and drowned at 

 once, and seemed incapable of making any attempt to save themselves 

 b} r swimming an inch or two. Some nests I kept in a large open tin- 

 lined box, which held them securely until the tin lost its smooth 

 surface from exposure, and allowed the ants a foothold, but even 

 then they were very slow to escape- 



Diacamma vagans, Sm. 



This species is very common in Bengal. You never find it in 

 large numbers, but generally singly, or two or three together ; its 

 nests, which are never populous, are usually formed, under bricks, 

 stones, or in brick-work, and always in shady situations. It appears 

 to have no regular time for swarming ; its sting is sharp, but the 

 pain does not last more than a few seconds. 



In the verandah of my bungalow at Barrackpore I had a nice 

 little nest in the briek-work, which I watched for several years, and 

 used to feed the workers with sugar and other sweets. I arranged 

 a little island by means of a brick placed in the centre of a large 

 plate filled with water, covered the brick with sugar, and then with 

 a piece of bamboo made a bridge from the floor to the brick. I left 

 this the whole of one Sunday, but no ants found out the treasure. 

 The following Sunday I captured a vagans, marked her with paint, 

 and put her to the sugar ; she immediately seized a grain, crossed 

 the bridge, and made off home to her nest, distant about 3 5 ft., in a 



