PHIDOLOGITON. 161 



enormous, somewhat disproportioned head in the I/, the form of 

 the thorax, pedicel and abdomen are all very similar. It differs, 

 however, as follows : Antennae of 11 instead of 12 joints in 

 I/ , $ and 5 ; club of the flagellum formed of the apical two 

 instead of the apical three or four joints ; Phidologiton $ has the 

 thorax extraordinarily high, massive and gibbous ; and between 

 the very largest form of or I/ and the $ mm. are several forms 

 that vary in size and also in the shape of the head. 



1Vir. Kothney, in his very interesting " Notes on Indian Ants " 

 (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1889, p. 369), says that " these ants form their 

 nests under bricks, stones, flower-pots, rock-works, or any spot 

 offering shelter or shade of this nature." Two species occur in 

 Burma, and are common round Eangoon. Nests can be found 

 under the blocks of laterite road-material collected by the sides of 

 roads for repairing purposes. I have found large and populous 

 nests under stacks of bricks in a brickfield, under fallen logs in 

 the jungle, and in the foundations of the pillars of our wooden 

 bungalows in Burma. One large nest, which I vainly tried to 

 clear out, was formed under my house in Moulmein. From this 

 our rooms were periodically invaded by swarms, and every scrap 

 of food they could find, and every living or dead insect of other 

 kinds, cleared out. Often the ants seemed to move about aim- 

 lessly, looting nothing however temptingly accessible ; but they 

 generally gave us a lively time, for, stepping heedlessly into their 

 columns, one's feet and legs were covered in a moment as it 

 seemed by legions of little fiends biting with all their might. The 

 giant soldiers, however formidable they look, are absolutely unable 

 to give even a decent nip, but the bites of the smaller forms of 

 soldiers and of min. are vicious and to be remembered. In a 

 nest of these ants the workers far outnumber the various forms of 

 soldiers. In India Phidologiton when on the march apparently 

 always makes covered ways ; in Burma this is not so. During 

 the hundreds of times that I have come across this ant, I have 

 only twice seen it tunnelling. Ordinarily it marches in the open 

 in irregular columns of mixed workers and of the smaller forms of 

 soldiers, and with only a very few of the giant soldiers marching 

 very deliberately and keeping to one side of the rank and file. 

 What was most remarkable was that these immense fellows were 

 invariably being ridden by three or four of their smaller comrades. 

 At intervals one of these would tumble off or possibly descend 

 and join the column, but its place was always quickly taken by 

 another. 



When these ants take up their abode in any numbers near a 

 village in the jungles they become a terrible nuisance. In the 

 Thaungyin Valley, Teuasserim, I knew of a Karen village that 

 had absolutely to shift because of the ants. No one could enter 

 any of the houses day or night, or even pass through the village, 

 without being attacked by them. 



I have never been able to make out clearly what are the 

 functions of the different grades of soldiers. The attack of the tiny 



VOL. II. M 



