128 BRITISH ANTS. 



species may prefer the plains and dry places, it appears to be 

 generally distributed in Britain. 



The colonies of this ant are not so populous as those of laevinodis, 

 nor is it as warlike as that species, or ruginodis. Its stirig is much 

 more feeble, and though combats take place between colonies of 

 the same species, the mortality is not nearly so great as in the 

 battles of the two above ants. 



This Myrmica is a skilful thief, robbing other ants of their 

 prey, even entering their nests for this purpose, and also haunting 

 the battle-fields of larger ants and devouring the dead. 



Forel 10 records that he has seen single individuals enter the 

 nests of Donisthorpea flava, drag out a worker of that species, kill 

 it, and carry it off as a prey. He goes on to say : " I have seen a 

 scabrinodis worker pull away the dead body of an insect from a 

 rufibarbis worker on the dome of the latter's nest, and in spite of 

 all the efforts of the rufibarbis to retain it. She feigned death, 

 then quickly carried off the prey when the rufibarbis let go, allowed 

 herself to be bitten, but never lost an instant to gain the ground. 

 I saw another catch a cocoon which some rufibarbis, flying before 

 F. sanguinea, were carrying. In vain more than twelve rufibarbis 

 workers tried to pull it away, to make her let go, to cut off her 

 head ; she remained motionless, clinging to the cocoon with her 

 mandibles. Her patience surpassed that of the rufibarbis, and she 

 ended by carrying off the cocoon so boldly stolen." 



Crawley noticed at Oddington, Oxon, where a number of both 

 M . scabrinodis and D. flava colonies occurred on a lawn, that, at 

 the entrances to the former's nests, an accumulation of a yellow 

 refuse appeared, which kept on increasing. On examination it 

 proved to be composed of vast quantities of the heads of the 

 flava. 



The stealing habits of scabrinodis account for the fact that 

 it is frequently met with near nests of flava, and in the nests of 

 other ants. Gould wrote as long ago as 1747 " Very often the 

 Red Ants reside in a distinct part of the Yellow Ant-Hills "- 

 F. Smith 5 says scabrinodis is frequently met with, occupying one 

 side of the same hillock in which flava has formed its habitation 

 Farren- White 20 records that he has found scabrinodis occupying 

 one side of the raised mound of flava, and also sharing with this 

 species the shelter of the same stone Fryer sent me specimens of 

 the Myrmica from a colony situated on the top of a large D. flava 

 mound 1 ft. 4 in. high at Woodington Wood 35 . I have observed 

 the two species together on the following occasions in the Isle of 

 Wight 22 , at Blackgang, July, 1894 three colonies of scabrinodis 

 under the same stones as flava at Bletchington on April 9th, 1913 

 again at Tenby on April 25th, 1913 also on Lundy on June 9th, 

 1913, here the two species were quite mixed, but when the stone 

 was moved they immediately attacked each other. Ellis and 



