of new Indian Ants. 101 



appear to be removed from the neighbourhood of the centre of 

 the nest to apartments nearer to the exterior, j;^<^;re only being 

 found in the latter. 



This species of ant is remarkable for forming its nest on the 

 branches of trees and shi-ubs. The construction is not only singu- 

 lar, but indicative of considerable ingenuity and foresight. The 

 first I met with was near to Pahtun, a Kohlee village on the Goreh 

 river, in the mountain districts of the Poona Collectorate. It was 

 attached to the branches of a large Kurwund* shrub, and was some- 

 what globular in form ; a second, subsequently met with, was bal- 

 loon-shaped. They consisted of a multitude of thin folia of cow- 

 dung, imbricated like tiles upon a house ; the folium above all covering 

 the summit in an unbroken sheet, like a skull-cap on a man's head. 

 The folia were put vxpon one another in a wavy or scolloped manner, 

 so that numerous little arched entrances were left, yet the interior 

 was perfectly weather-proof. A vertical section presented a multi- 

 tude of irregular cells, formed of the same material as the exterior : 

 near the centre the cells appeared more capacious than near the 

 surface, and a dried leaf or two had been taken advantage of in 

 their formation. The nurseries were in different parts of the habi- 

 tation ; those cells nearest the centre being filled Avith very minute 

 eggs ; those more distant, with the larvse enlarged ; and the remote 

 cells, with the pupae coming into life : the last cells, indeed, had nu- 

 merous winged ants in them, probably the males of the community. 

 In the first nest examined I did not discover the queen, nor were 

 there any stores of provisions ; the insects, therefore, must have re- 

 lied upon their daily exertions for subsistence. In a second nest, 

 formed on the bough of a large Mango-tree f at Tullyghur, on the 

 table-land of Bhima Shunkur, I was more fortunate in meeting with 

 the queen. She was inclosed in a cell adapted to her size, and evi- 

 dently could not move, as I was compelled to enlarge the entrance 

 with my penknife to effect her liberation. She was very like a di- 

 minutive queen of white ants, and I have little doubt was the common 

 parent of the community. Many of the eggs in this nest were not 

 oblong, but plano-convex, the plane side being fixed to tlie branch 

 of the tree ; they had a gelatine character, and the rudiments of the 

 future insect were observable in them. There was not any store of 

 provisions, and in neither nest did I observe a distinct class of sol- 

 diers. 



The inhabitants of the first nest occasioned ludicrous distress to 

 the Europeans in my oflice, the draftsman and clerk. The nest had 

 been obtained late in the evening, and was suspended from the tent- 



* Carissa Carandos. t Mangifera Jndica. 



I 2 



