50 Mr. T. C. Jerdon on new species of Ants 



~^8. Ocodoma providens (Sykes ?), Jerdon (p. 108). 



Worker about ^th of an inch long; head somewhat ovate, 

 bulging slightly at the sides and narrowed behind, notched pos- 

 teriorly and with two points, rough and granular j eyes mode- 

 rate, central ; thorax slightly grooved, with two small spines on 

 its posterior angles ; first abdominal pedicle pointed, second 

 longer, broader and rounded. Warrior with jaws pointed and 

 finely toothed ; thorax very rough. Length ^th of an inch ; 

 head large, otherwise similar. 



I am by no means certain if this be Sykes's species or not, and 

 indeed, without actual comparison, it would be very difficult to 

 determine, so similar are the general features of these small ants, 

 of which I possess four very closely allied species from Southern 

 India, and have only collected these from two or three localities ; 

 so that many other allied species may still exist. 



The habits and manners of all are very similar. They live 

 under ground, making for their size a large series of excavations. 

 Their common food I suspect to be animal matter, dead insects, 

 &c., which at all events they take readily, but they also 

 carry off* large quantities of seeds of various kinds, especially the 

 small grass seeds, and, as every gardener knows to his cost, more 

 especially garden seeds. They will take off" cabbage, celery, 

 radish, carrot and tomato seeds, but are particularly partial to 

 the light lettuce seeds ; and in some gardens, unless the pots in 

 which they are sown be suspended or otherwise protected, the 

 whole of the seeds sown will be removed in one night. I have 

 also had many packets of seeds (especially lettuce) in my room 

 completely emptied before I was aware that the ants had dis- 

 covered them. I do not know, however, if they eat them or feed 

 their larvse on them, though for what other purpose they carry 

 them off" I cannot divine. I have often observed them bring 

 the seeds outside their holes, as recorded by Colonel Sykes, and 

 this, I think, generally at the close of the rainy season ; but in 

 some cases I had reason to believe that it was merely the husks, 

 of which I have seen quite heaps, and that the ants did not take 

 them back to their nests. If any of the forementioned seeds be 

 sown at once in a bed, most likely in the morning you will 

 find the surface of the whole spot covered over with little ridges, 

 the work of these creatures, and the few seeds that perhaps re- 

 main, dug all round, and being carried off", sometimes above 

 ground, at other times under ground. Their galleries and sub- 

 terranean passages are often very extensive, and it is no easy 

 matter to dig down to their nest to see what becomes of the 

 seeds. I have not procured the male or female of this species. 



