( Ivii ) 



every ant carried a victim, not infrequently much larger than 

 itself, in the form of the large Termite soldier. The particular 

 Termite soldier I knew to be a formidable fighter, for one has 

 only to push a stick into the nest to have them rush out in 

 force to meet the enemy. My respect for the Stink Ant, 

 which till then had been very low, was not a little increased. 

 There was rather a fine dignity about the progress of the 

 small army, the members of which march three or four abreast, 

 in a fairly open formation, each one about half an inch to an 

 inch from its neighbour. The line, on each of the occasions 

 on which I have seen it, extended for about fifteen feet. 

 There would perhaps be about 500 individuals in all, at a 

 rough estimate. The Stink Ant I had only known before in 

 less-distinguished roles. An unpleasant sight which I have 

 witnessed several times, is to see these great ants cutting 

 a large earthworm into inch lengths, which they carry to their 

 nests. They are rather cowardly, and quickly run to cover 

 when disturbed, although not before making their presence 

 felt by emitting the disgusting odour which has earned them 

 the expressive name by which they are known out here. 

 The Termite raiders are a comparatively rare sight, and I 

 thought no more of them till my next tour, when I had Dr. 

 Lamborn for a colleague. He interested me in the subject 

 of ants in general, and one day, in discussing some of the 

 Ponerines here, the subject of the comparative rarity of the 

 hunting-in-file habit among them cropped up, and I asked 

 him if he had ever seen it among the Stink Ants at Oni; 

 for they are not common up country. He had not, and, know- 

 ing far more of the matter than I did, asked me to take special 

 note of it on the next occasion I saw it, and to get specimens. 

 " About the middle of August last year, just before going 

 on leave, I was once more in the Agege district and had the 

 good fortune again to see the raiders, on their return march. 

 I followed them to their nest, which was under a tree root. 

 The entrance was wide and irregular (about 2 inches in dia- 

 meter), and might have been made by rain washing under 

 the stump of the tree. The tree itself had been felled a year 

 or two before, and in falling had doubtless lifted the root a 

 little (without, however, tilting it up, for it had been a small 



