071 Indian ants. 371 



Dorylus (longicornis?). 



Before leaving for India, in 1872, my kind old friend 

 Mr. Frederick Smith gave me specimens of the workers 

 and male of Dorylus, and thoroughly imbued me with the 

 necessity of discovering the female, and I started for the 

 East with the most perfect confidence of doing so. On 

 my way across from Bombay to Calcutta I stopped at 

 Jubbulpore to visit the Marble Piocks, and while at 

 dinner at the hotel a male flew in to the light ; this was 

 my first introduction to this ant, March 6th, 1872. 



I bad not been long in Calcutta before I found a very 

 promising-looking nest under a large stone at the bottom 

 of an empty tank on the Alipore side of Fort William. 

 I visited this nest two or three evenings a week for some 

 months, feeling certain that some evening my persistence 

 would be rewarded by finding the ants sw^arming and 

 capturing the female ; but I was doomed to disappoint- 

 ment, for on going to the tank one evening I found the 

 water had been let in, and it was being filled for military 

 purposes. I next took the workers in some considerable 

 number in a i^urchase of pot-plants made at an auction 

 sale at Mackenzie Lyalls ; but my next real nest was at 

 Scandal Point, Barrackpore Park, in the earth, and 

 sheltered by one of the wooden seats which are erected 

 there. I examined it very carefully, probing the burrow 

 with a straw, but, though the workers sallied out in some 

 numbers, there was no sign of a female. I was uncertain 

 whether to dig the nest up then and there, or to watch 

 it for some indication of swarming before disturbing the 

 ants. I unfortunately decided on the latter course, for 

 when I went to the spot the next evening there was not 

 an ant to be seen. 



My next nest was found in a small brick culvert 

 leading from the old bear-pit, Barrackpore Park, and 

 was formed under a lot of rubbish made up of bits of 

 brick and decayed leaves. This was a fairly populous 

 little colony, and looked a very likely find, and I visited 

 it for several weeks, until one of the Park malis 

 (gardeners), seized with an extraordinary fit of industry, 

 took it into his head to clear out and tidy up this old 

 drain, which had not been disturbed for years. After 

 this I did not find what might be considered a genuine 

 nest until 1886, but stray lots of the workers could often 



