Chap. XL THE MOGOKORA ANT. 227 



I have never been able to find a single winged 

 specimen of any white ants whatever, but I found 

 unwinged queens in the mushroom hives. 



The Mogokora Ant. — Often, while T was walking in 

 the Otando prairie, another ant attracted my attention ; 

 it was called by the natives Mogokora ; it is a ground 

 ant. Many hours I have spent in studying its habits. 

 These ants are of a black colour ; many of them are an 

 inch in length, and they are the largest species of ants 

 I met with. They possess long and powerful nippers, 

 and, when once they have seized an insect, they never 

 relinquish their hold ; and they have often to struggle 

 very hard before overpowering their victim. Con- 

 sidering the large size of the insects which I have 

 seen them master, I judge that their strength must be 

 enormous. They wander solitarily over the prairie, 

 and it was only after the grass had been burnt, that 

 I could study them thoroughly. They seem to scour 

 it in search of prey ; insects and caterpillars being 

 their food. They inhabit holes or subterranean cham- 

 bers, and seem never to move very far from their 

 abodes ; as soon as they have captured an insect 

 they make for their galleries, and enter them with 

 their victim, which they devour at leisure. I never 

 saw them eat their prey out of their dens. These 

 holes or subterranean chambers are scattered over 

 the prairie, and each ant seems to know the one 

 that belongs to it. When they find an individual of 

 their own species dead, they carry it off to their den. 



These dens are found almost always on the decli- 

 vity of hills, so that the water mav not enter them 



Q 2 



