OUR ANTK 17 



paper, aud especially for the identification of the species, substitutes 

 for the Formicidoi, two sub-divisions, based mainly on the form of 

 the gizzard, viz. :— 



Camponotidce: — pupse ordinarily enclosed in a cocoon. 



DohchoderidiS : — pupse always naked. 



I may be fanciful, but I have thought that I could trace degrees, 

 or rather phases, of ' civilization', among the ants, corresponding very 

 fairly with the above 'classification. Among the FormiddcB we have 

 Prenolepis, the gipsy without any settled home, or at any rate so little 

 attached to it as to be ready to shift on the smallest provocation, 

 at one end of the scale, while at the other, Camponofus is found in 

 large permanent communities, keeping cattle, and living on their 

 produce. CEcophylia makes a nest of leaves, joined together with 

 a silky material, but this is the wigwam of branches of the savage, 

 and these nests are often constructed over and round aphides, etc., and 

 are in fact ' byres.' Poli/rachis has pushed farthest the practise of nest- 

 building {spinigera actually spins a complete bag of silk to line her 

 subterranean nest), still they are a timid retiring folk, living from 

 hand to mouth, on vegetable juices, and possibly on the produce of 

 their cattle, though I have never ascertained this last. The PoneridcG 

 are unequivocally in the hunting stage of civilization. Lubbock 

 says : " Our English hunting ants generally forage alone. In warmer 

 climates, however, they hunt in packs and even in armies." 

 According to my experience, this is not quite correct. Among the 

 Foneridce, the social instinct is limited to domestic affairs, and to 

 occasional predatory raids. All the species, as a rule, and Poncra 

 (and perhaps others) always, forage singly. Should one of them 

 find a prey, she will struggle with it single-handed, and even aban- 

 don it, but it will never enter her head to seek help. Indeed, I have 

 often fancied, I noticed a movement of impatience (unfit to be 

 recorded, I fear, even if it could be translated, and certainly imlady- 

 like) when a stray ? finding a sister struggling with a prey 

 beyond her powers has proffered assistance.* Among those species 

 which do organize raids, such as Lohopelta, when a ? finds, not a 

 single edible article, no matter how large, but a collection of titbits, 



* Mr. Rothney tells me that, this exactly accords with his experience. 

 3 



