ON THE HABITS OF THE CARINGA. 347 
voured, Scale insects too are carried up into the nest, and 
thrown down anyhow, generally wrong way up. In two or 
three nests I have seen mud and gravel brought up and deposit- 
ed; in one made of the leaves of a caryota palm at the lowest 
end and at a point where the leaves did not actually touch, the 
aperture was filled up with a quantity of small stones and red 
mud agglutinated together with some wet slimy substance. 
It is possible that this was destined to weight down that end 
Ol themes ts. 
The courage of the Caringa is marvellous. It does not 
scruple to attack any insect however large. I once witnessed 
a fight between an army of Caringas who tenanted the upper 
part of a fig tree, and advancing crowd of a much larger kind 
of black ants. The field of battle was a large horizontal 
bough about 5 feet from the ground. ‘The Caringas standing 
alert on their tall legs were arranged in masses awaiting the 
onset of the enemy. The black ants charged singly at any 
isolated Caringa and tried to bite it in two with their power- 
ful jaws. If successful the Caringa was borne off to the nest 
aime soot of the tree. Ihe red ant om the other hand 
attempted always to seize the black ant and hold on to it, so 
that its formic acid might take effect in the body of its enemy. 
If it got a hold on the black ant the latter soon succumbed 
and was borne off to the nest in the top of the tree. Eventual- 
ly the Caringas retreated to their nest, and the last who left the 
field was one who had lost one leg and the abdomen in the 
fight, but notwithstanding this I saw it alone charge and repulse 
three black ants one after the other, before it left the field. 
I believe these ants are cannibals, at least they carry away 
dead ones into their nests, and commence sucking the bodies. 
When an ant is slightly wounded they do not kill it, but pull it 
about and nibble it, but if fatally wounded they bear it off 
to their nests and probably eat it. Besides other insects, 
meat and general animal food, they live as I have said, upon 
the honey of the scale insects. They suck this honey until 
they become so distended as to be almost transparent and on— 
meeting with others not so provided they spit the honey with 
much waving of legs and antennce into their mouths. 
