528 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



clian tailor bird and although I never was made richer by a single 

 nest I did secure several quite similar chvellings of the tailor ant 

 {Oecojyhylla siyiaragdma). The ecology of this wonderful insect 

 might fill a book. He does not sew but glues the edges of leaves to- 

 gether, afterwards lining the cavity, not with cotton or other fibre, 

 but with a kind of self-made transparent paper which is also used 

 for joining the leaf edge. Many a time I have watched these indus- 

 trious architects at their work. The object of their house building is 

 to form a globular casing in which the breeding cells, food, etc., are 

 stored. First, several ants stand on the margin of one leaf and, 

 grasping a contiguous leaf edge in their mandibles, draw it to the 

 border on which they are standing. Other workers on the inner or 

 opposite surfaces paste the approximated margins together. 



If the neighboring leaf is too far away the ants make a chain of 

 their bodies to reach the desired contiguous blade which is then drawn 

 up and cemented. This work is so thoroughly done that long after 

 the leafy materials have dried and are partly disintegrated the origi- 

 nal structure holds its shape and a good deal of force is required to 

 tear it apart. 



It is advisable to make these observations at a safe distance because 

 the red leaf ant is one of the largest and most ferocious of its order ; 

 its bites are very painful and, for some persons, poisonous. Exam- 

 ined with a lens their crossed mandibles show serrated edges; they 

 may be said to be armed with veritable " teeth." I have had them 

 drop on and bite me while walking along a jungle path. No native 

 will ascend a tree for coconuts, toddy, or other objects when there 

 are active colonies of red ants on trunk or branches. 



It is only fair to say just here that many of the animals one has 

 been taught in school books to fear are those that in Ceylon, at least, 

 give the working naturalist little concern, while others with wdiose 

 habits he is less familiar call for some consideration.^ 



In the first category may be placed four or five poisonous snakes, 

 the elephant, the leopard, the crocodile, the wild boar and, perhaps, 

 the bear. I shall have something to say about my experiences with 

 these later on. 



Of the really dangerous animals, as one meets them in jungle life, 

 there are, in addition to the deadly Anopheles just mentioned and 

 which I regard as incomparably the most lethal of all Ceylon ani- 

 mals, mainly three. The chief of these, so far as vay experience goes, 

 is also invertebrate, viz : the Ceylon land leech. Two other danger- 



=Among the native population the figures vary, but in an early quinquennial report of 

 108 coroners' inquests on deatbs from wild animals, 68 (mostly women and children) 

 were from serpent bite ; IG from elephants ; 15, buffaloes ; 6, crocodiles ; 2, wild boars ; 

 1 by a bear. This can hardly be called excessive in a native population (for the 

 period quoted) of over 2,000,000, mostly forest residents. 



