Notes on Ant Behavior 215 
ants were walking about the board, but a great many workers 
and a few queens were crowded about the opening before flying 
away. When I attempted to take them many hurriedly walked 
back into the burrow. 
Camponotus herculeanus sub. sp. pennsylvanicus 
[M. R. Smith] 
There is a nest of Camponotos ants in the tree a few yards 
from the house and our kitchen sink and pantry offers them 
foraging and feeding opportunities. In fact they were encour- 
aged in this and it is interesting to watch them come and go 
during the day and during the night as well, gathering jelly, 
honey, syrup, cantaloupe, watermelon juice, bits of orange, meat 
and sugar. 
The dates each year when they began to make inroads to 
the sink varied as shown below ; 1928, April 4; 1929, March 22: 
1930, April 11; 1931, April 15; 1932, April 8. They are usually 
about the kitchen until June 1 to 15 and then they disappear. 
During the drought year of 1930 however, they continued to 
come into the house until September 5; in 1934, also a severe 
August 25. Both summers witnessed severe droughts and the 
sink afforded plenty of moisture in the form of water or fruits. 
hese ants foraging at night proved a nuisance to some of 
my cage insect material. They entered the cages and on several 
occasions carried away piece-meal, many sleeping Polistes wasps 
and Xylocopa bees. 
have noted a war of this ant on members of its own species 
on July 10, 1926. While these ants came on foraging expedi- 
ants, at the same time, were dismembering the bodies of their 
fallen brethren and carrying portions of their bodies to the nest. 
I do not know how long this deadly strife had been going on 
but judging from the number of dead it must have been going 
on for a long time. It certainly was an ant battle, but the un- 
usual thing was that both victor and vanquished were of the 
Same species. It might have been a rival nest; it could hardly 
have been a war between casts in the same nest, because all 
\ 
follows: February 3 and in March 1931; July 31, 1932; May 
9, 1932. These dates are in line since it is generally known 
that the queens become mature in late summer, but do not 
remove their wings or leave the nest to found new colonies 
until the following spring. 
