ENSANAFU ANTS 279 



Their activities are also revealed by the great dis- 

 turbance they cause among the countless spiders and 

 insects of all kinds that have previously been concealed 

 among the dead leaves and ground cover. Before one 

 sees the hunters themselves one meets spiders, harvest- 

 spiders (Phalangeridae), caterpillars and especially cock- 

 roaches scurrying away in great excitement. As one 

 draws nearer to the area being hunted over, one sees 

 little masses of Dorylus ants busily engaged in cutting 

 up some unfortunate insect that has failed to escape, 

 and then, standing just outside the area and keeping 

 careful watch around one's feet, one can see the hunters 

 running about and going into every nook and 

 cranny. 



A cockroach takes fright and rushes out from under 

 some dead leaves, only to be seized by one or more ants 

 and overpowered by superior numbers. Sometimes, on 

 a sandy shore, where they have a chance of running away, 

 the cockroaches forfeit their lives by losing all presence 

 of mind and running wildly hither and thither, often 

 tumbling head over heels in their frantic endeavours to 

 escape, and so falling all the easier prey. 



Sometimes, however, certain spiders by moving 

 cautiously first in one direction and then in another, 

 and, as it were, feeling their way, manage to evade the 

 awful fate of being eaten alive. 



It is an unpleasant sight when a huge caterpillar is 

 seen writhing and twisting in the endeavour to free itself 

 from the numerous ants which have firmly fixed their 

 sharp jaws in its skin and will not leave go. 



Slugs of large size are cut up piecemeal, although some 

 of the ants at least are overwhelmed and suffocated in 

 the slime that is secreted more abundantly when the 

 slug is attacked. 



A certain snail that was common on Damba Isle 

 was able, as related in another chapter, to keep the ants 



