;1026 MR. A. LOVERIDGE : NOTES ON 



away a cork to get at the raspbeny «yrup which the bottle 

 contained. It was not a question of eating the surface of the 

 cork which might have been in contact with the «yrup, they 

 ate right into the heart of the cork and then downwards. 

 (Kilosa, 15.iv.22.) 



On sitting down to breakfast I noticed one of these ants 

 walking round and round the stem of a vase. I commenced to 

 count how often it did the round, and after 39 times, found it 

 took two minutes to do 29 rounds; at the end of five minutes it 

 seemed to be going as strong as ever, so again timed it, and found 

 it did a little more than 144 rounds per minute. At the end of 

 ten minutes, as we were timing it again, it began to vary the 

 tour by turning about, and only did 9^ rounds to the minute. 

 It had, liowever, already done some 150 rounds, and, falling back 

 into its old stride, continued for another livo miniites, making 

 in all a quarter-of-au-hour since we began to time it ; during 

 this time it had accomplished approximately 200 rounds of a 

 •circle 4| inches in circumference, giving us an idea of its accom- 

 plishments when in colunni, of 96 yards per hour or more probably 

 100 yards per hour. 



The ant then came down on the table cloth, but soon returned 

 to the groove and recommenced its absurd parade, which it was 

 still doing when I returned to lunch four hours later. It had, 

 of course, come in on the fresh-cut flowers and was far from 

 home and friends, but why should it exiiibit so little intelligence 

 as to wear itself out in this manner ? Was it the scent of its 

 own feet that hurried it along, thinking it was on a regular run, 

 or was it the reflection of itself in the highly-polished concave 

 groove that made it fancy it was accompanied by others? I 

 cannot say, but that it was not a foolish individual is proved by 

 the fact that whenever flowers are brought in with this species 

 \ipon them the same thing Imppens, sometimes as many as four 

 j\nts taking part in the procession, frequently going in opposite 

 directions and moving out of each other's way when they meet. 

 (Ivilosa, 18.V.22.) 



55. Gabdiocondyla. emeryi For. An ant which causes a great 

 deal of inconvenience to householders 1 call the *' Sugar-ant" from 

 its fondness for that commodity in particular, and sweet things 

 in general. In my present quarters they swarm on the bed, 

 table, and cupboard and many of them die in the jam ; they cross 

 one's paper when writing, and have to be brushed off one's 

 neck, but never retaliate. (Morogoro, 14. xii. 16.) 



It is interesting to note that the sugar-ants wliich formed 

 long columns to and from my cupboard are now absent ; only a 

 few individuals are to be seen each day. (Morogoro, 20. iii. 17.) 



56. Plagiolepis (Anoplolepis) custodiens Sm. This species 

 is very abundant both at Kilosa and Morogoro, where it will be 

 found running about in incredible numbers on paths and open 



.ground and sometimes swarming on tree-tranks. They attack 



