40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892. 



Suuderbuns E. Ellis. 



Travancore H. S. Ferguson. 



Thana Districts F. Gleadow. 



Calcutta G. A. J. Rothney. 



Rai Bareilli, Oudh Dr. Simpson. 



Kondmals, Orissa Jas. Taylor. 



Burma E. Y. Watson. 



Ceylon Major Yerbury. 



This is tlie well-known vicious ' red' ant about whom Mr. A.itken 

 has contributed such amusing papers to this Journal. The ^ alone 

 is red (and even she is said to be green in New Guinea) ; the 9 

 ■which is much larger and stouter is pale green ; while the $ is very 

 small and black. Sir J. Lubbock claimed for (Ecophylla that she had 

 a rudimentary sting, but even this snaall endowment beyond her 

 fellows has been denied, and in fact does not exist. It is certain, 

 however, that she possesses the power of ejecting her venom to an 

 extraordinary distance. When, she attacks a human being she uses 

 her jaws, and I never heard any one maintain that that was not 

 enough. Smaragdifia is found all over India, especially in the moister 

 regions. In the Dekhan she is found only on the Ghat edge, and then 

 only in weak communities. Her architecture has been so minutely 

 and exactly described by Mr. Aitken that any further reference to 

 it would be superfluous. Smaragdina, while fully maintaining the 

 formicine reputation as a cattle-keeper, is undoubtedly also largely 

 carnivorous. Many years ago my dog died, during the night, 

 alongside my bed ; in the morning his body was hidden from view 

 by a coating of struggling ants. While he was alive he had re- 

 mained unmolested, nor did they touch me, though my bed was their 

 main thoroughfare on the way to the body. On one occasion I 

 found a bone two inches long in a nest, and to this day cannot ima- 

 gine how the ants got it there. I have heard Mr. Vidal, C.S., say 

 that he had a young hawk eagle and a young owl killed by Smarag- 

 dina. Mr. Aitken writes : " I think (Ucophylla feeds chiefly on the 

 ' milk^ of aphides and of butterfly larvse ; " and referring to the case 

 of Mr. Vidal's pets adds, " On the other hand, I have scarcely ever 

 " found the nest of a sun-bird on this coast except on trees swarm- 

 *' ing with these ants." Writing to me of this species Mr. Taylor 



