THE ANTS OR PISMIRES 



rare and most live in retired situations, especially in the 

 tropical rain forests. Like the marsupials, which are primitive 

 mammals, they are specially numerous in Australia. Here 

 one of the dominant forms is Myrmecia, the bull-dog ant, 

 which is by no means retiring. The workers of some species 

 are nearly an inch long and are capable of jumping a foot at 

 a time. Froggatt describes how, if their home is approached, 

 they come jumping out one after another like a pack of dogs. 

 As they can bite and sting severely the nest must be treated with 

 great respect. Another Ponerine, Lobopelta, is a very active 

 hunter and tends to specialise on termites. Hingston has des- 

 cribed how an Indian species sallies out in dense armies to attack 

 termite nests. Some of the ants enter the nest and begin to kill 

 termites, throwing them out or bringing them to the entrance. 

 Other ants act as porters and carry the prey back to the ants' 

 nest. All who have observed these and other raiding parties of 

 ants are irresistibly reminded of a skilful military operation. 



THE DRIVER AND LEGIONARY ANTS 



This type of behaviour reaches its highest development 

 in the driver ants of Africa and the legionary ants of South 

 America. These together form a distinct section of the 

 Ponerines and have much in common. The workers of the 

 drivers are always blind, whereas the legionaries usually 

 have rudimentary eyes. Some kinds are almost entirely 

 subterranean, others merely nocturnal. One of the legionaries 

 builds a tunnel of grains of sand as it goes along and in this 

 way passes in shelter from log to log, looking for beetle-grubs, 

 etc. Others especially in the tropical rainforest, are fully 

 diurnal and easily observed, as I have myself proved in British 

 Guiana. A raiding army covers an area of several hundred 

 square feet, and as one approaches it one hears the character- 

 istic chirping of the ant thrushes. These are birds which have 



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