Predaccous Insects and their Prey. 39S 



upon the termites. They did not attempt to carry 

 them away, but fastened themselves on to the dorsum 

 of the abdomen of each termite. Tliere must have been 

 some fifteen or twenty termites, each with its attendant 

 fly. I very much regret that I did not bottle any of the 

 couples alive and watch the subsequent proceedings. 

 Instead of that I put them all into my poison bottle. 

 Should the opportunity again occur, I shall pay closer 

 attention to the actions of the fly. I think that the 

 note in ' Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist.' (vol. xvi, No. 4, p. 

 747), to which I have already referred you, is a strong 

 corroboration of the supposed fact, though we do not 

 know for certain that the Indian fly was the same species 

 as my Ceylon insect. I am writing to ask if specimens 

 can be obtained for comparison." 



In a few days Mr. Green obtained four of the specimens 

 (305-308) referred to, and forwarded them to me, with 

 the following letter: — " Peradenyia, Ceylon, Aug. 2, 1906. 

 I am now able to send you some of the actual specimens 

 that were the subject of the note in 'Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc' (vol. xvi, No. 4, p. 747). They have been 

 received from the Secretary of the Society. They appear 

 to be identical with or very closely allied to the flies taken 

 by myself under similar circumstances, in Ceylon. These 

 Indian flies are said to have been seen actually hawking 

 the termites — on the wino^. I think this is another sound 

 link in the chain of evidence ! I remember noticmg par- 

 ticularly that the flies invariably attacked the abdominal 

 part of the termite, — where the chitinous derm is thinner 

 and softer than on the thorax." 



The four specimens are all females of Ochromyia jejuna. 

 They were captured by Capt. K. E. Nangle, 96th Berar 

 Infantry, at Tarbund, Secunderabad, on July 17, 1905. 

 Captain Nangle's note in the "Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. 

 Soc." (vol. xvi, 1905, p. 747) is as follows: — "Last night 

 after heavy rain there was a large flight of flying ants at 

 about 9.30 p.m. After the swarm appeared we heard a 

 loud humming noise and went out into the verandah to 

 see what it was and found these flies in swarms. We at 

 first thought from the noise, until we caught some, that 

 it was bees swarming, although it was so late at night. 

 We found these flies were hunting the flying ants, regularly 

 hawking at them in the air. When a fly seized an ant 

 it proceeded to devour the soft hind quarters." 



