xcvi. Appendix: — Proceedings of 



An objection to the use of the Red Ant, however effica- 

 cious, has been raised on account of the well known aversion 

 the Coolies have to go near where they are to be found in 

 abundance ; but this might be obviated by clothing the Coolies 

 in a light cotton dress and providing them with common leather 

 gloves which would effectually keep the ants from biting their 

 skin, for it must be borne in mind that they do not sting but 

 bite. At all events Red Ants ought to be more welcome visitors 

 to an Estate than the Coffee Bug ; for however numerous the 

 former may be, they do not interfere with fruition or any other 

 function of the plant. Again, they might be destroyed in a 

 wholesale manner by taking their nests and burning them. 

 Again there are other ways of obviating this objection which 

 appear to be commonly practised by the Singhalese whenever 

 Red Ants become troublesome ; the first method is as follows. 

 They collect a quantity of large Black Ants, called ambilere 

 in Singhalese, they are about the size of the Red Ants 

 called dimia in Singhalese, but are shorter and thicker, they 

 are perfectly harmless and build also in trees, and are different 

 from the large Black Ants which are to be found running in 

 lines across a road or pathway, whose bite is even more 

 painful than that of the Red Ant, and having placed a few 

 of their nests in a tree frequented by the Red Ant, the latter 

 are most expeditiously dispersed. 



Another mode is commonly practised by which the Red Ants 



From the Plantation first alluded to, they disappeared as soon as they 

 had finished the Bug, or to all appearance had done so ; but we had 

 hardly lost sight of the Ants, when I regret to say the Bug came back 

 again ; it seems, however, now to be leaving the Coffee districts of its own 

 accord, and I hope it will not be long before we can reckon it ' amongst 

 the things that were.' 



Your's truly, 



Simon Keir." 



" P. S. I ought to have mentioned that the elevation of the Estate 

 where I found the large " Red Ants " is about 2000 feet, and that of the 

 Estate to which I removed them 3000, or 3,500 feet above the sea." 



