xn] MEANS OF DEFENCE IN ANTS 



of all possible means of protection and defence. 1 One kind, a very 

 large one, which I found on the ground, when touched covered 

 itself with a white froth which issued in quantities from its sharp- 

 pointed abdomen. Another, which lived on the leaves of an oak, 

 gave off a very strong odour of pepper. Yet another species, well 

 known to the natives by the name of " Sumut samada," and very 

 abundant at Marop, is possessed of a powerful defence in the shape 

 of a sting like that of a wasp. It is quite black, of an elongated form , 

 and the stings it inflicts are very painful. As it lives on the ground 

 and is gregarious, woe betide the unfortunate person who camps in 

 its vicinity ; he must decamp at once ! But the most ferocious of 

 all is the " Sumut tinggal-fala " (" the ant which leaves its head "), 

 so called by the natives on account of the ferocity with which it 

 bites, leaving its head attached to the object it has seized with its 

 jaws sooner than let go. I once found this species in possession of 

 a Myrtacea in blossom in such numbers that none of my men dared 

 to climb the tree, and as I had no axes with me to cut it down, I 

 had to leave it without getting specimens ; so that actually on 

 account of this ant the plant is not represented in my herbarium. 



There is, again, the very common " Sumut kassa" or red ant 

 {(Ecophylla smaragdina), found everywhere in the jungle of secondary 

 growth, where it makes huge nests, binding together dead leaves by 

 filaments like strong spiders' web. These are found at about a 

 man's height from the ground on shrubs and in bushes. It is one 

 of the greatest pests one meets with in the forest, where it is 

 found, for its bite causes a burning pain — happily not of long 

 duration — on account of the formic acid it instils into the wound. 

 More than once I have inadvertently disturbed one of the nests of 

 this ant, and in a second have had all the inmates running over 

 me, getting down my neck and up my sleeves, and fiercely 

 attacking my naked skin in all directions, so that to free myself 

 from them I have been obliged to strip entirely. 



The Dyaks eat this ant, or rather they mix it with their rice as 

 a condiment. It has a pungent acetic taste and smell which they 

 evidently like. The Tuan Muda told me that a Mayas he had 

 kept in captivity was very fond of these ants. 



The manner in which the CEcophylla smaragdina procures the 

 threads which it uses to join the leaves forming its nest is so extra- 

 ordinary, that it would scarcely be thought possible had it not been 

 perfectly verified by the observations of thoroughly credible eye- 

 witnesses (cf. D. Sharp ; Insects, pt. ii. p. 147). The adults of this 



1 The ants collected by Doria and myself in Sarawak have all been 

 described by Dr. Mayr in the Annali del Museo Civico di Genova, vol. ii. 

 p. 133, 1872 ; but my notes on each species have not been quoted, and 

 therefore I cannot give the scientific names of the species mentioned in the 

 text. 



l6l M 



