THE HIT I XL! PUWI'Jh'S OF AXTS 



145 



vantagcous and *lisiulvaiitay;eous uses of tlio 

 jaws. Tenacity witliiii reason brings desir- 

 able results, but we have seen that in this 

 particular iield of endeavor ants know no 

 limit, lience they sometimes yet into trouble. 

 This is usually the case wlien tliey attack a 

 larger animal which can defend itself by 

 biting or otherwise. Various insects are 

 occasionally captured with the heads of ants 

 clinging to their legs. A tiger beetle {Cicin- 

 drlii launntii) and several other species 

 have been seen so adorned.' Tiger beetles 

 probably have no difficulty in decapitating 

 ants, but they are unable to break up the 

 hard heads themselves. 



The same sort of tenacity is illustrated 

 in the story of a slave-holding ant which 

 went home with a dissevered head of an 

 ant dinging to its leg.2 Professor \V. M. 

 Wheeler, of Harvard University, told me 

 that he once came upon a colony of harvest- 

 ing ants {Poffonomyrmcx molcfaciens) evi- 

 dently recently visited by an army of driver 

 ants (Eciton ccecum). Almost every har- 

 vester had several Eciion heads dangling 

 from its legs, the bodies having been bitten 

 off. 



Anotlier observer '^ relates that on one oc- 

 casion he had put two ants of the species 

 Componotus pcnnsylvanicus, which had come 

 from an oak log in his room, into a bottle 

 with a turtle {Kinostenion pennsylvanicum) , 

 and that they had attacked the turtle and 

 had bitten so hard that the heads remained 

 attached to the turtle's neck after the bodies 

 had been removed. Still another observer * 

 tells me that lie once collected a ground 

 squirrel in the Southwest that had an ant's 

 head fastened in the edge of one of its nos- 

 trils. The part was entirely perforated, and 

 the head swung loose; the animal thus had a 

 veritable nose ring and it was certainly of 

 unique pattern, even if not of so much value 

 as those affected by certain savage tribes. 

 It is rather a common occurrence, further- 

 more, to collect flickers — birds which dig 

 into ant hills and feed freely on their in- 

 habitants — that have ant heads attached to 

 their wing and tail feathers. 



In all these cases, disadvantageous jaw- 

 work is illustrated; the ants had bitten off 



' Observation by Professor D. E. Lantz. 



- McCook, Ant Communities, p. 200. 



^ Wm. T. Davis, Journ. N. T. Ent. Soc, Vol. 

 XVI. No. 3, Sept., 1908, p. 196. 



* Mr. Vernou Bailey, of the United States Bio 

 logical Survey. 



more than they could chew. As a rule they 

 encounter the same state of affairs when 

 they attack man. They may annoy or even 

 severely punish, but ultinuite victory lies 

 with the attacked. One scientific gentleman •"' 

 told me of an experience he had with an 

 ant accidentally taken into his mouth with a 

 berry. The little fellow at once set his jaws 

 into the inside of the cheek; in dislodging it, 

 the first pull brought away the thorax and 

 ai)d(>iiu'n, but the head remained. At the 

 second attempt the head was brought out 

 but a jiiece of ej)ithelium came with it. 



The driver ants of the tropics, Eciton in 

 America, and Anomma in Africa, are a ter- 

 ror to every living thing. When they are on 

 the march, those creatures able to flee do so 

 at once, those which lag behind are quickly 

 consumed. These ants at times make things 

 very interesting for man. When their line 

 of march takes in a native house, the owners 

 decamp immediately, and the ants are left 

 in full possession. They soon pass on and 

 thes-e visits are not without advantage to the 

 house dwellers as all cockroaches and other 

 vermin are thoroughly cleaned out. 



Another observer s tells me that at times 

 when looking among the tree tops for birds, 

 he has been taken unawares by an army of 

 these ants. The soldiers among the driver 

 ants have tremendously developed heads and 

 jaws; their bite brings blood and they hang 

 on until the heads are pulled off. The most 

 interesting feature of their attack is the 

 remarkable unanimity with which they set 

 their teeth into the skin. Whether they 

 accomplish this by mental telepathy or 

 otherwise, the fact remains that several ants 

 scattered here and there over one's anatomy 

 all decide to bite at one particular moment. 

 Considering the severity of their bite we 

 may well believe the observer's statement 

 that a surprise party of this kind fairly 

 lifts a man off the ground. 



An African ant of similar habits, the 

 siafu, has a broad flat head with crescent- 

 shaped mandibles which it buries in the flesh 

 of its victim and there literally stands on its 

 head. This ant exhibits the same biting 

 habits " described for the Central American 

 species. As a result one may have twenty- 



^'The late Professor F. E. L. Beal. of the Unitfd 

 States Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 



"Mr. E. A. Goldman, United States Biological 

 Survey. 



' Authority of Mr. Kdniund Heller, African ex- 

 plorer. 



