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XIII. Notes on Indian ants. By George Alexander 

 James Eothney, F.E.S. 



[Read April 3rd, 1889.] 



The following notes (which I have been encouraged to 

 offer to the Society by the kind assurance of my friend 

 Mr. Edward Saunders that they might be of some 

 interest to hymenopterists) are confined to my written 

 memoranda of a few only of the more conspicuous or 

 interesting of the Indian species which have been con- 

 stantly under my observation from March, 1872, to 

 March, 1886. 



Now that I have left India, I often feel sorry I did not 

 turn to better account such a splendid field for the study 

 of these most fascinating insects, but the calls and 

 duties of a business life and the necessity of spending 

 much of one's spare time in outdoor sports, which in 

 India means not only relaxation but health, very greatly 

 reduce the leisure available for steady entomological 

 work, and, as these notes will show, almost restrict 

 one's observations to Sundays and holidays ; still there 

 have been many neglected opportunities, and I shall 

 always regret having failed to find the female of Dorylus, 

 and to dig up a satisfactory nest of Holcomyrmex indicus. 



Looking back on Indian ants generally, it is strongly 

 impressed upon my mind by many an unrecorded 

 observation that not only do different species vary as 

 widely in habits and character as do the numerous and 

 distinct nationalities inhabiting this wonderful country, 

 but that individuals of the same species will occasionally 

 exhibit, when under apparently similar conditions and 

 circumstances, different little traits and dispositions, so 

 that if you attempt to fix any hard and fast lines as to 

 ant-conduct you are apt to find your calculations and 

 theories somewhat upset. 



Mr. Edward Saunders has kindly assisted me in 

 determining some of the ant -puzzles, and I am happy 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1889. — PART III. (OCT.) 2 B 



