52 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 36 



singly at great distances, often 10 feet from the nest, and seldom attack living 

 insects. It often happens that a Myrmica, in foraging, will wander into a migrating 

 line or band of Lasins foragers. Several Lasii will immediately attack it, one 

 holding to each leg or antenna, and will drag it from the vicinity of the nest or line, 

 as it happens to be, and there leave it to go as it will, making no attempt to kill it. 

 The Myrmica, in such cases, offers no resistance whatever, and will remain almost 

 motionless while being dragged away. Occasionally a solitary Myrmica and a 

 solitary Lasins will meet, and while the Lasins will usually avoid the Myrmica, it 

 will sometimes attack the larger ant. In such cases the Myrmica will stand higher 

 in the air than usual, moving about slowly, keeping the Lasius, which is attempting 

 to get a hold on its legs or antennae, a little to one side and slightly in front of 

 its head. They will often fence in this manner for a minute or more until the 

 Lasius gets in the proper position, when the Myrmica, with a spring, swifter than 

 one would imagine such an ungainly ant capable of, will seize the Lasius, usually 

 by the petiole from the upper side, and lifting it in the air, will carry it to the 

 nest, possibly for food. 



Myrmica, while a very sluggish and awkward ant, shows itself in cases such 

 as the two mentioned (and probably 100 of each were observed during the summer), 

 to be a very cool, deliberate, and, if such a term may be used, calculating ant. 

 Lasius moves more quickly, and apparently more blindly than Myrmica. 



On the night of August 18th and 19th, while feeding the foragers about the 

 larger Lasius nest, some of the food insects dragged themselves near the opening 

 of the Myrmica nest* before they were overpowered. In the excitement of capturing 

 the insects, 75 to 100 Lasius had come out from their nest and were busily engaged 

 near the Myrmica entrance in dragging the dead insects back to their own nest. 

 At this moment a single Myrmica appeared at the opening of its nest, and in a 

 second disappeared. In less than a minute three more Myrmicse appeared and 

 after running about on the surface for a few seconds in an excited manner, dis- 

 appeared into their entrance. A few seconds later the whole colony of Myrmicse, 

 with the queen, came pouring from their nests^ many of them carrying j^oung, and 

 very evidently prepared to migrate. A few of the Myrmicse attacked the Lasii 

 nearest them, while the rest ran about aimlessly for a few seconds, and then re- 

 turned the young to the nest. The majority of the Myrmica workers now began 

 an earnest attack on the Lasii, driving them slowly away from the insects which 

 they had captured, and in the course of 15 minutes had them all driven back into 

 their nest, leaving the insects near the Myrmica nest where they had abandoned 

 them. The queen Myrmica remained on the surface only a few moments after the 

 young were returned to the nest; she did not go more than three inches from the 

 entrance and took no part in the battle. 



After the Lasii had all been driven in, most of the IMyrmic^e returned to 

 their nest, leaving about 20 of their number, apparently standing guard, about the 

 Lasius entrance, where they remained for some time, the last ones leaving and 

 returning to their own nest about twenty minutes after the last Lasius had dis- 

 appeared. The Myrmicse in returning to their nest scarcely noticed the dead 

 insects, two of them dragged a dead back-swimmer about for a moment and 

 abandoned it. The remains of the insects were found at their entrance the next 

 morning, showing that during the night they had dragged them in and devoured 

 them. 



On the night of August 19th-20th, the Lasii were brought near the 

 Myrmica nest by feeding with living insects, this time purposely. The Myrmicae 

 in appearing on this night were somewhat less excited than on the previous night, 



