63 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE RELATIONS OF ANTS TO OTHEB ANIMALS. 



The relations existing between ants and other animals are 

 even more interesting than their relations with plants. 

 As a general rule, not, however, without many remark- 

 able exceptions, they may be said to be those of deadly 

 hostility. 



Though honey is the principal food of ants, they 

 are very fond of meat, and in their wild state destroy 

 large numbers of other insects. Our English ants 

 generally go out hunting alone, but many of the 

 species living in hotter climates hunt in packs, or 

 even in troops. 



Savage has given ^ a graphic account of the ' Driver ' 

 ants (Anomma arcens, West.) of West Africa. They 

 keep down, he says, ' the more rapid increase of noxious 

 insects and smaller reptiles ; consume much dead 

 animal matter, which is constantly occurring, decaying, 

 becoming offensive, and thus vitiating the atmosphere, 

 and which is by no means the least important in the 

 Torrid Zone, often compelling the inhabitants to keep 



> • On the Habits of the Driver Ants,' Trmt. Ent. Soc. 1847, 

 p. 14. 



