19G JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892. 



Mr. Aitken writes : — " Tlie entrance (of the nest) wMcii is stre-wn 

 " with, chaff, is large, but the passage soon splits up, and I failed to 

 " follow it. I turned up a lot of pupse, however, close to the surface. 

 " The community is enormous and industrious, collecting large seeds 

 "of trees or plants, which it takes a dozen to carry ; these are taken 

 "in and the husks are thrown out afterwards. If P. ocellifer meets a 

 "white ant or any other insect, she collects it in the same way. 

 " They travel along a distinct road, which often passes under leaves 

 " and grass but not under or through earth. The smaller 2^ often 

 " laid a jaw to a burden, but the giants appear to do nothing." 

 163. Ph^ laboriosus (Smith). 



Poona Districts ; Thana Districts (7-85, $ $ . ) 



Calcutta G. A. J. Eothney. 



I have only found this species once above the Ghats, at Lanowli ; 

 in Thana it is common enough. One nest I found there was in the 

 foundations of the bungalow. A column of P. laboriosus was moving 

 along at the foot of the plinth, on an open * road, ' but further on, where 

 a garden path had to be crossed, a ' tunnel ' had been constructed. This 

 tunnel was built dry, and not of concrete as with the Termites, 

 Numbers of the ^ were carrying larvae and pupae, while the rest 

 were engaged in the transport of food. I saw a live worm about 1^ 

 inch long and some dead beetles and bugs being so conveyed. The 

 smaller ^ helped in the commissariat transport work, but did not 

 carry larvae ; the larger 3. <iid neither one nor the other ; when the 

 tunnel was injured the g alone did the repairs. The larger 2^., 

 though terribly formidable to look at, were not pugnacious. I saw 

 one attacked, killed, beheaded, and his body carried off by 3 compa- 

 ratively small ants of another species. The § , on the contrary, are 

 plucky and vicious. 



Gen. 41. Pheidole (Westwood). * 



Antennae 12-jointed (11-jointed in one species) ; the club, formed 

 of the last 3 joints, is equal to, or slightly longer than, the rest of the 

 flagellum ; the ninth joint is twice as long as the eighth. The 2- ^-re 

 all of one size. 



* See footnote on Th. quadrispinosa, page 196. 



