420 INSECTS. [Cuar. XII. 
These when brought into operation cut out the wood 
in the same way as a carpenter’s double gouge, the teeth 
being more or less hollowed out within. The female alone 
is furnished with these powerful instruments. In the 
males the mandibles are slender as compared with those 
of the females. The bores of some of these bees are de- 
scribed as being from twelve to fourteen inches in length. 
Ants.—As to ants, I apprehend that, notwithstand- 
ing their numbers and familiarity, information is very 
imperfect relative to the varieties and habits of these 
marvellous insects in Ceylon.! In point of multitude 
it is scarcely an exaggeration to apply to them the 
figure of “the sands of the sea.” They are every- 
where; in the earth, in the houses, and on the trees ; 
they are to be seen in every room and cupboard, and 
almost on every plant in the jungle. To some of the 
latter they are, perhaps, attracted by the sweet juices 
secreted by the aphides and 
1 Mr. Jerdan, in a series of 
papers in the thirteenth volume of 
the Annals of Natural History, 
has described forty-seven species of 
ants in Southern India, But M. 
Nietner has recently forwarded to 
the Berlin Museum upwards of 
seventy species taken by him in 
Ceylon, chiefly in the western pro- 
vince and the vicinity of Colombo. 
Of these many are identical with 
those noted by Mr. Jerdan as be- 
longing to the Indian continent. 
One (probably Drepanognathus sal- 
tator of Jerdan) is described byM. 
Nietner as occasionally ‘moving by 
jumps of several inches at a spring.” 
2 Dr. Davy, in a paper on Tro- 
pical Plante, has introduced the 
following passage relative to the 
purification of sugar by ants: 
“Tf the juice of the sugar-cane 
—the common syrup as expressed 
coccide.? Such is the pas- 
by the mill—be exposed to the air, 
it gradually evaporates, yielding a 
light-brown residue, like the ordi- 
nary muscovado sugar of the best 
quality. If not protected, it is 
presently attacked by ants, and in 
a short time is, as it were, con- 
verted into white crystalline sugar, 
the ants having refined it by re- 
moving the darker portion, pro- 
bably preferring that part from its 
containing azotized matter. The 
negroes, I may remark, prefer 
brown sugar to white; they say 
its sweetening power is greater; 
no doubt its nourishing quality is 
greater, and therefore as an article 
of diet deserving of preference. 
In refining sugar as in refining salt 
(coarse bay salt containing a little 
-iodine), an error may be committed 
in abstracting matter designed by 
nature for a useful purpose.” 
