NOTES ON INDIAN ANTS. 55 



pleasure : there can be no doubt they thoroughly enjoy themselves. 

 You may watch couples in various stages of this process, Avhich is 

 varied at times by three ants taking part, or hy one affecting a kind 

 of coy resistance. 



I have mentioned that, although ragans is a common ant, you can- 

 not find it in large numbers ; neither can you start out from your 

 bungalow collecting with an absolute certainty of finding it ; but for 

 ten years a visit to this culvert under the shade of this banyan-tree 

 on the river-bank always rewarded you with an interesting group of 

 playing, caressing, shampooing ants. During these ten years 

 I only twice found nests of this species within the radius of this 

 banyan's shade or its immediate vicinity, so that, as a rule, my ants 

 must have travelled some distance in order to enjoy and disport 

 themselves in this delightful retreat.* 



I must leave my favourite ragans now, for I have no more written 

 notes, but from numbers of unrecorded observations extending over 

 the years from March, 1872, to March, 1886, I always look back on 

 this species with much affection, and as an old friend who, under any 

 circumstances and tests, has never disappointed me. Judged from a 

 human point of view (which, however, may not be always strictly 

 fair), I certainly place D. ragans as the most intelligent ant it has 

 been my pleasure to observe, and I consider Chlorion lobatum the 

 most intelligent amongst sand-wasps. 



Solenopsis gemmvnatus, Fabr. 



Soknopsis gemminata, Fabr. 



This species is one of the very commonest in Bengal ; you can 

 come across it eveiywhere. It is the red ant of India, as compressus 

 is the black, and smaragdina the yellow. It forms its nests, which are 

 very populous, in the ground, under bricks or stones in brickwork, 

 or almost anywhere. It appears to swarm several times in the year 

 from March to October, and I have even found the winged sexes in 



* I could never find out if the ants that frequented this culvert at any one time 

 were all from the same nest, but I am inclined to think, from their numbers and the 

 smallness of the colonies of vagans, that sometimes they were not. I have observed 

 this shampooing going on in other similar situations, but never with the regularity 

 and certainty of this favoured spot. 



