1884.] 209 



A MEMOIR OF ANT-LIFE BY THE LATE REV. H. S. R. MATTHEWS. 



Communicated by the Rev. A. MATTHEWS. 



Among a host of notes and records of Natural History left by 

 my brother, 1 lately found the subject of my present communication. 

 And since so much interest has lately been excited by the researches 

 of Sir John Lubbock into the life-history of Ants, I thought that its 

 publication would prove interesting to those Naturalists who have paid 

 so much attention to this subject, and also serve as a corroboration of 

 facts already recorded by others. I have, therefore, transcribed the 

 following memoir entitled in the words of its author : — 



[THE WARS OF THE ANTS. 

 On the 25th of June, 1850, as I was passing through a fir- 

 plantation near Skelliugthorp in this county (Lincolnshire),! observed 

 two very large colonies of the great red and black Ant, Formica rufa; 

 their nests were about five or six yards apart, and had been built, like 

 others in their vicinity, ou the bank of a dry ditch by the side of the 

 road. Their inhabitants were busily engaged in the usual occupations 

 of Ant-life, some carrying home various articles of food, such as small 

 insects or caterpillars, while the greater part seemed to be employed in 

 collecting materials for the purpose of enlarging their already enormous 

 nests. I was much amused by watching their proceedings ; one in- 

 dividual was endeavouring with all his might to drag home along piece 

 of stick, unconscious that all his efforts were rendered abortive by two 

 of his own companions, who, on the other side of an intervening root, 

 were equally determined to drag the same stick in an entirely contrary 

 direction ; in another part, one, whose ambition exceeded his strength, 

 seized a tolerably large caterpillar by the throat, and was forthwith 

 hurled ignominiously on his back, nothing daunted by this rebuff he 

 loosed his hold, and patiently watched the contortions of the caterpillar, 

 until, seeing his head and tail in contact, he pounced suddenly upon 

 him, and seizing both extremities in one grip of his powerful jaws he 

 raised his now helpless victim on high, and bore him off in triumph. 

 Feeling much interested in my new friends, and anxious to improve 

 our acquaintance, I took an early opportunity of revisiting the spot. 

 But, alas ! in the short space of one week how great a change had 

 come over the scene. The once flourishing colonies, a few days before 

 teeming with life, seemed almost entirely depopulated, scarcely could 

 an Ant be seen on either nest, and the few, whose appearance was the 

 only sign that any of its former multitudes remained, crawled stealthily 

 over the surface, more like robbers or spies than the rightful owners 

 of the soil. 



