CHAPTER IV. 
ON THE RELATIONS OF ANTS TO OTHER ANIMALS, 
THE relations existing between ants and otheranimals are 
even more interesting than their relations with plants. 
As a general rule, not, however, without many remark- 
able exceptions, they may be said to be those of deadly 
hostility. 
" Though honey is the principal food of my ants, 
they are very fond of meat, and in their wild state 
ants destroy large numbers of other insects. Our 
English ants generally go out hunting alone, but 
many of the species living in hotter climates hunt in 
packs, or even in armies. 
Savage has given! a graphic account of the‘ Driver’ 
ants (Anomma arcens West.) of West Africa. They 
keep down, he says, ‘the more rapid increase of noxious 
insects and smaller reptiles; consume much dead 
animal matter, which is constantly occurring, decaying, 
becoming offensive, and thus vitiating the atmosphere, 
and which is by no means the least important in the 
Torrid Zone, often compelling the inhabitants to keep 
1 «On the Habits of the Driver Ants,’ Trans. Ent. Soc. 1847 
p. 14. 
