on Indian ants, 365 



delight and pleasure : there can be no doubt they 

 thoroughly enjoy themselves. You may watch couples 

 in various stages of this process, which is varied at 

 times by three ants taking part, or by one affecting a 

 kind of coy resistance. 



I have mentioned that, although vagans is a common 

 ant, you cannot find it in large numbers ; neither can 

 you start out from your bungalow collecting with an 

 absolute certainty of finding it ; but for ten years a visit 

 to this culvert under the shade of this banyan-tree on 

 the river-bank always rewarded you with an interesting 

 grou}) of playing, caressing, shampooing ants. During 

 these ten years I only twice found nests of this species 

 within the radius of this banyan's shade or its immediate 

 vicinity, so that, as a rule, my ants must have travelled 

 some distance in order to enjoy and disport themselves 

 in this delightful retreat.* 



I must leave my favourite vagans now, for I have no 

 more written notes, but from numbers of unrecorded 

 observations extending over the years from March, 1872, 

 to March, 1886, I always look back on this species with 

 much affection, and as an old friend who, under any 

 circumstances and tests, has never disappointed me. 

 Judged from a human point of view (which, however, 

 may not be always strictly fair), I certainly place 

 D. vagans as the most intelligent ant it has been my 

 pleasure to observe, and I consider Chlorion lohatum the 

 most intelligent amongst sand-wasps. 



Solenopsis gemminatus, Fabr. 



Solenopsis geminata, Fabr. 



This species is one of the very commonest in Bengal ; 

 you can come across it everywhere. It is the red ant of 

 India, as compressus is the black, and smaragdina the 

 yelloiv. It forms its nests, which are very populous, in 

 the ground, under bricks or stones in brickwork, or 

 almost anywhere. It appears to swarm several times 

 in the year from March to October, and I have even 



■'' I could never find out if the ants that frequented this culvert 

 at any one time were all from the same nest, but I am inclined to 

 think, from their numbers and the smallness of the colonies of 

 vagans, that sometimes they were not. I have observed this 

 shampooing going on in other similar situations, but never with 

 the regularity and certainty of this favoured spot. 



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