424 Mr. C. O. arte ares Five Years’ Observations 
foneura imagines, p. 349], I went to the Cremastogaster- 
Argiolaus tree and was surprised to find the large Camponotus 
maculatus, ¢ var. melanocnemis running all over the tree. I 
remember cutting into a bit of the decayed heart last tour 
and causing a hurried sortie on their part, but I had for- 
gotten that they lived inside the decayed heart. They 
appear to be night-hawkers. It is rather extraordinary 
considering their great size and heavy armament in the way 
of jaws. But, although Cremastogaster never seem to stop, 
I visit that tree every day and never see one Camponotus ; 
yet that night they were all over it. Yet the nuptial flight 
finds the fliers in a markedly phototropic mood, and they 
are a dreadful nuisance now and again in the house. The 
flying stage is such a large insect. They always come about 
dinner-time, 8 p.m., and I have to shut doors and windows 
at the risk of suffocation. One can actually hear the patter 
of them at the lighted window, reminding one of a shower 
of hail at home. 
Sept. 16, 1917.—Camponotus maculatus is a nocturnal 
ant. One occasionally sees workers in the open on plants 
in the daytime, but very seldom are soldiers to be seen. 
I know of a nest at Ibadan in an old tree from which I can 
make a few outraged soldiers emerge at will by thrusting 
a little twig into the opening—a sort of friendly call to make 
sure that my friends are still to the fore. But at night the 
whole neighbourhood of that tree is alive with them, 
soldiers and workers too. In spite of their great size 
and heavy armament, these soldiers are singularly timid. 
They cover the retreat rather than pursue aggressive tactics. 
A Driver soldier will bite at one’s bootlace or puttee in 
impotent fury, and even the relatively tiny soldiers of a 
Cremastogaster colony make for the enemy at sight. 
Odontomachus hasn't got such a name for nothing. He 
lives up to it. As for Oecophylla, at the first alarm the 
whole crowd come out on to the surface of the nest ready 
for action, all facing the enemy. I have often amused 
myself “ drilling” them by moving a little twig from side 
to side just an inch or two (or even at considerably longer 
distances) in front of them, moving it like a precentor his 
baton. At each change of position their heads and bristling 
antennae are turned simultaneously. One can do the same 
with a Mantis, but he somehow is a comical spectacle as 
he orients his head; Oecophylla inspires respect, and so 
does Megaponera. There are two or three nests of them 
