260 ZOOLOGY. [Part II. 



tliem surroiiiiding a maimed beetle, or a bruised cock- 

 roach, and hurrying it along in spite of its struggles. 

 I have, on more than one occasion, seen a contest be- 

 tween them and one of the viscous opliidians, Coecilia 

 glutinosa^, a reptile resembhng an enormous earthworm, 

 common in the Kandyan hills, of an inch in diameter, 

 and nearly two feet in length. It would seem as if the 

 whole community had been summoned and turned out 

 for such a prodigious effort ; they surrounded their victim 

 hterally in tens of thousands, inflicting wounds on all 

 parts, and forcing it along towards their nest in spite 

 of resistance. In one instance to which I was a wit- 

 ness, the conflict lasted for the latter part of a day, 

 but towards evening the Ca3cilia was completely ex- 

 hausted, and in the morning it had totally disappeared, 

 having been carried away either whole or piecemeal by 

 its assailants. 



The species I here aUude to, is a very small ant, 

 called the Koombiya in Ceylon. There is a still 

 more minute description, which frequents the caraffes 

 and toilet vessels, and is evidently a distinct species. 

 A third, probably the Formica nidificans of Jerdan, is 

 black, of the same size as that last mentioned, and, 

 from its colour, caUed the Kalu koombiya by the 

 natives. In the houses its propensities and habits are 

 the same as the others ; but I have observed that it 

 frequents the trees more profusely, forming smaU paper 

 cells for its young, hke miniature wasps' nests, in which 

 it deposits its eggs, suspending them from the leaf of 

 a plant. 



The most formidable of all is the great red ant or 

 Dimiya.^ It is particularly abundant in gardens, and 

 on fruit trees ; it constructs its dwellings by glueing 

 the leaves of . such species as are suitable from their 

 shape and phancy into liolloAV baUs, which it hues 

 with a kind of transparent paper, hke that manufac- 



' See a7ite, Pt, l. cL. iii. p. 201. ^ Formica smaraydina, Fab. 



