on Indian ants. 355 



on live insects, such as flies, moths, other ants, or any- 

 thing it can capture ; it is also very fond of over-ripe 

 fruit, and there is a species of fig in the Park, the fruit 

 of which (about the size of a medlar) is always riddled 

 with these ants. I have not, however, found it on 

 carrion, as I have the workers of Dorijliis and Solenopsis. 



I have never observed the workers fighting aniongst 

 themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of their own 

 nest, but on other trees it is not an uncommon occur- 

 rence to find little parties of six or eight engaged in 

 deadly battle. In May, 1883, 1 found five couples locked 

 in a death struggle on the trunk of a casuarina-tree ; I 

 secured them, and they did not let go their hold on being 

 put in the collecting-bottle, but died as they fought. It 

 seems probable that these were workers from different 

 nests engaged in hunting, and a common object had 

 brought them into collision. 



S. rufo-nigra and (Ecophylla smaragdina, Fabr. — In 

 1883 smaragdina, which had never for the previous ten 

 years been a very common ant in Barrackpore, appeared 

 in large numbers, and advanced from tree to tree along 

 the trunk-road ; it came up opposite the Club and the 

 Park-gates, where the road turns round to the parade- 

 ground and Pulta. I watched the position of affairs 

 with much interest, as smaragdina had only the road to 

 cross, — one big tree and one telegraph-post, — and they 

 would be on to my favourite nest of rufo-nigra. This 

 was in March, but it was not until April that smaragdina 

 crossed the road, and I observed the workers gathering 

 in numbers about the end big tree and the telegraph- 

 post, but my tree was still unmolested. On Sunday, 

 April 29th, however, the fight commenced ; smaragdina 

 were clustering round the tree, and making futile efforts 

 to ascend, for rufo-nigra mustered in strength in a ring 

 round the base of the trunk, and successfully repelled 

 every effort of smaragdina to effect a lodgment. Ant for 

 ant rufo-nigra was far more than a match for smaragdina, 

 and the yelloiv ants were routed by the red and black. 

 There were (as far as I could see) no killed on either 

 side, and when I left, after watching some hours, rufo- 

 nigra was master of the situation, and smaragdina 

 retiring to the big tree and telegraph-post. 



The next Sunday, May 6th, I again visited the tree, 

 and to my surprise a great change had taken place in 



