26 FOOD ENEMIES. 



attacks of other insects. Our English, ants do not 

 store up provision for the winter; indeed, their food 

 is not of a nature which would admit of this. I have 

 indeed observed that the small brown ant sometimes 

 carries seeds of the violet into its nest, but for what 

 purpose is not clear. Some of the southern ants, 

 however, lay up stores of grain (see Chapter III.). 



Ants have many enemies. They themselves, and 

 still more their young, are a favourite food of many 

 animals. They are attacked also by numerous para- 

 sites. If a nest of the brown ants is disturbed at any 

 time during the summer, some small flies may probably 

 be seen hovering over the nest, and every now and 

 then making a dash at some particular ant. These 

 flies belong to the genus Phora, and to a species hitherto 

 unnamed, which Mr. Verrall has been good enough to 

 describe for me (see Appendix). They lay their eggs 

 on the ants, inside which the larvae live. Other species 

 of the genus are in the same way parasitic on bees. 

 Ants are also sometimes attacked by mites. On 

 one occasion I observed that one of my ants had a 

 mite attached to the underside of its head. The mite, 

 which maintained itself for more than three months in 

 the same position, was almost as large as the head. 

 The ant could not remove it herself. Being a queen, 

 she did not come out of the nest, so that I could not 

 do it for her, and none of her own companions thought 

 of performing this kind office. 



In character the different species of ants differ very 



