OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS. 16*) 



At this period only one attendant ant remained. 

 After twenty minutes' rest, the other ant returned, 

 and the two worked at the wings. One held the 

 newly-emerged ant, while the other pulled out the 

 wings clear of their sticky covering (a kind of 

 gummy mass). 



Then came two more ants, and helped in the 

 launching of the newly-emerged winged ant into life, 

 and the whole emergence and cleaning took over 

 six hours. I watched this till 2 a.m. 



In May of anijther year I placed a small nest of 

 PolyrJwchis amv.ion in an inverted deep saucepan 

 lid and placed the handle of the lid in a glass. Near 

 to it was a similar nest of Camponottts nigriceps — 

 the Sugar Ant, and there was interest in observing 

 the differences in habits. 



I placed a piece of wet sponge in each nest. 

 The Polyrhacliis ants sucked the water quite na- 

 turally, but the Camponotus would have none of it. 

 They covered it over with sand, and made a nest of 

 it. The sponge was taken out and washed and 

 placed back again wet. The ants waited till it was 

 partly dried, and began to cover it with sand, and 

 as I left them in peace, they made a comfortable 

 little home with rooms ready — the spaces in the 

 sponge, and placed in them larv?e and pupae. 



Once when I was attending to these adjacent 

 ant homes mentioned above, the lid in which the 

 Camponotid ants were living was tipped up close 

 to the Polyrhachis nest. In a few seconds the 

 Camponotids had crossed over to the other, and 

 there was a free fight between the two species. 

 After vainly trying to separate them I promptly 



