OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS 115 



most of the previous night. This fight took place between two 

 colonies of carpenter ants, 1 in the eaves of an outbuilding and work- 

 shop. When the doors of the shop were opened in the morning great 

 numbers of black, mangled bodies were seen upon the floor, covering 

 an area nearly six feet in diameter. The creatures had been battling 

 in the eaves above the door, and in the fury of the struggle had 

 dropped to the floor below. 



There were legs and feelers, several heads and broken bodies lying 

 about in profusion, and here and there were little groups of ants, all 

 dead, but still linked together in a death grip. Other mangled bodies 

 still writhed in agony. There was one huge warrior with the severed 

 head of an enemy still clinging to its feeler, and a few couples were 

 still fighting furiously upon the floor. 



One could hear a distinct clicking and snapping as the powerful 

 knife-like jaws opened and closed upon the unfortunate victims. I 

 even saw one little ant with every limb gone and its feelers both cut 

 off, still bravely fighting upon its back, with a much larger and quite 

 unharmed antagonist. Above, in the eaves, small groups of warriors 

 looked down upon the aftermath, as though staring with satisfaction 

 upon the scene of carnage which they had left. 



It brought home to me, as no insect event has ever done before, how 

 like us these creatures are! One offends, and the whole innocent race 

 suffers, some only slightly to be sure, but others pay with their life 

 and blood for the wrong of another! 



The leaf-cutting ants 2 of tropical America during their foraging 

 excursions are frequently attacked by a smaller species of ant that 

 easily conquer them, thereafter eating out the abdomen and head of 

 their captives. This pugnacious ant is a tiny creature, measuring 



1 Camponotus pennsylvanicus. 



2 These insects belong to the genus atta. They grow a fungus, Rozites gongylo- 

 phosa, upon fragments of leaves, which serves as food for the colony. 



