80 BRITISH ANTS. 



single worker with Formica fusca at Rame Head in April, 1909 37 ; 

 one worker with D. flava in the Heavy Valley in April, 1909 37 ; 

 five workers in a nest of D. nigra at St. Helens, Isle of Wight, in 

 August, 1909 37 ; one worker with D. flava and three with F. fusca 

 at Box Hill in April, 191 1 40 ; one worker with D. flava at Sandown 

 Isle of Wight, in September, 1912 41 ; a small incipient colony 

 consisting of a dealated female and eight workers in a nest of 

 Myrmica scabrinodis at Box Hill in September, 1912 41 , this 

 colony was situated in a small chamber in the middle of the galleries 

 of the Myrmica nest, which was under a stone ; two dealated 

 females and three workers with D. flava at Bletchington in May, 

 1913 ; six workers some carrying larvae in a large colony of 

 D. mixta in the root of a tree-stump at Box Hill in May, 1913 ; and 

 a single dealated female in a similar nest of the same ant in the 

 same locality in September, 1913. Forel 13 found a colony in 

 Switzerland which had formed a nest by the side of a nest of 

 Formica rufa, and again another connected with a nest of Ponera 

 coarctata. Wasmann 19 mentions a colony in a hillock of F. 'exsecta 

 at Feldkirch in Vorarlberg. Wheeler 26 also records the American 

 subspecies americana Emery, and its variety brevispinosa 

 Emery, and also another subspecies from Texas (subsequently 

 described by him as texana) as being frequently associated with 

 other ants. It is therefore probable that the females sometimes 

 seek the protection of another ants' nest to found their colonies. 



This ant has been described as a cowardly species, but I should 

 rather regard it as a lethargic ant, of retiring habits. It is true 

 that when alarmed it rolls up into a ball, the head touching the 

 tail, with the legs and antennae packed close to the body, and 

 feigns death since its integument is exceedingly hard, it is well 

 protected against ants and other enemies in this position. I have 

 found that the male and female, as well as the worker, make use of 

 this mode of defence 40 . The workers will not tolerate the presence 

 of strange ants of their own species, as instanced by the two colonies 

 found in the flints before mentioned. These were put together in a 

 small observation nest, when the workers of the first colony taken, 

 attacked and killed the female and workers of the second colony 

 and appropriated their brood. I have found also that they will 

 attack and kill ants of other species, and bite at and hold on to a 

 paint brush or tweezers when presented to them ; they will eat a 

 little honey, but prefer animal food, devouring the dead bodies of 

 other ants, as well as killing and eating live ones and their brood, 

 and other insects, especially small flies. The ants pass the winter 

 in the larval state and are piled on each other in a heap by the 

 workers. The latter feed the larvae by mouth, but also place 

 cut-up bits of insects and other food on their bodies for them to 

 eat. They pupate in May and attain the perfect state in June and 

 July. 



