on Indian ants. 367 



smaragdina must have left the tree of their own accord, 

 and were not driven off.* 



On Sunday, May 20th, I again went to my tree, to 

 find another invasion of smaraf/dina, and the wedge- 

 shai^ed column of yellow ants advancing as on May 6th ; 

 this time rufo-nigra hardly offered any opposition, and 

 there was a very apparent diminution in their numbers. 



On Thursday, May 24th, smaragdina had again de- 

 serted the tree, and rufo-nigra was to the fore. 



On Sunday, June 10th, another invasion : smaragdina 

 all over the tree, some workers being close to the entrance 

 to rufo-nigra^s nest ; very few of rufo-nigra workers 

 about, and these all small-sized specimens ; the red and 

 black ants almost suppressed. 



On Sunday, June 24th, smaragdina occupied the upper 

 portion of the tree, rufo-nigra the lower, and had regained 

 their nest. 



On Sunday, July 22nd, I found smaragdina strongly 

 in the ascendant : very few workers of rufo-nigra about. 



After this date I left off taking written notes, but 

 smaragdina gradually deserted my tree, and passed on 

 to others ; rufo-nigra was left in undisputed possession, 

 but the colony was never so populous and prosperous 

 again, and on my leaving India, in 1886, had not entirely 

 recovered from these invasions of the yellow ants. 



In the ' Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ' for 1876, 

 pp. 87, 88, I have very fully described a curious phase 

 in the history of this ant, and the beautiful sand-wasp, 

 Amimlex compressus ; how, on the 1st June, 1876, on 

 the trunk of an old peepul-tree {Ficus religiosa), on the 

 road to Pultah and Barrackpore, I found a number of 

 these wasps and ants engaged in a series of battles, or 

 what really describes it more accurately, wrestling- 

 matches, the wasps jerking the ants clear off the tree 

 one after the other ; there would be a little fencing and 



* It is possible that as the spear-head formation of yellow ants 

 advanced to a level with rttfo-nigra's nest, the red and black ants 

 may have retired ; it would be impossible for smaragdina to follow 

 them vip, as their size would not permit them to enter the burrows. 

 The yellow column may have then passed on, and rufo-nigra, 

 issuing in a body, taken them in flank, and by this skilful 

 manoeuvre snatched a victory from defeat ; but of course this is 

 mere conjecture, though more unlikely things do happen in ant- 

 hfe. 



