358 Mr. G. A. J. Rotbney's notes 



dodging for a hold, especially when two ants at the same 

 time faced a wasp, but Amjndex always succeeded in 

 jerking them off the tree. The ants did not appear to 

 be hurt, and I watched several reascend the tree and try 

 another fall with their too-powerful oj^ponents. This 

 tree was always much frequented by both Amjmlex and 

 Pseudomyrma, but I have never seen any " tummasha," 

 as the natives would call it, of this sort going on there, 

 either before or since ; but on May 20th, 1883, on a 

 peepul-tree in Barrackpore Park, I observed a single 

 specimen of Ampidex jerking ants off the trunk, mostly 

 rufo-nigras, but in this case there was some apparent 

 reason ; both ants and wasps were attracted to the same 

 spot by some sort of sticky secretion exuding from the 

 bark, and ants and wasp consequently collided, with the 

 result that the former were jerked off as described ; only 

 a few of the rufo-nigras offered any opposition or made 

 any fight, and as before, none of the ants appeared to 

 be much the worse for their falls. 



Pseudomyrma carbonaria, Smith. 



Sima carbonaria, Smith. 



This species is not uncommon in Bengal, and forms 

 its nests in trees, as with rufo-nigra. I have only found 

 one or two nests, and these were not populous ; my best 

 one was situated in an india-rubber tree (Ficus), on the 

 drive from Government House to the Outram Statue, 

 Calcutta. I have only taken one specimen of the winged 

 female. The sting of this ant is sharp and pungent, but 

 not to be compared in power to rufo-nigra. There is a 

 species of Salticus which mimics this ant, but it is very 

 rare, and there is another spider which also frequents 

 tree-trunks, and closely mimics a Camponotus. 



(Ecopliylla smaragdina, Fabr. 



This well-known ant is common in Bengal, and forms 

 its nests in trees by drawing together the living leaves 

 with a fine white web, as described in Jerdon's ' Madras 

 Journal.' In 1883 immense numbers of this ant appeared 

 in Barrackpore, advancing from tree to tree along the 

 trunk-road from Calcutta, and they soon took up a 

 strong position in the Park ; some of the trees were 



