Chap. XIL] 



ANTS. 



423 



with it, and hold both together with their mandibles till 

 their companions within attach them firmly by means 

 of their adhesive paper, the assistants outside moving 

 along as the work proceeds. If it be necessary to draw 

 closer a leaf too distant to be laid hold of by the imme- 

 diate workers, they form a chain by depending one from 

 the other till the object is reached, when it is at length 

 brought into contact, and made fast by cement. 



Like all their race, these ants are in perpetual 

 motion, forming lines on the ground along which they 

 pass, in continual procession to and from the trees on 

 which they reside. They are the most irritable of the 

 whole order in Ceylon, biting with such intense ferocity 

 as to render it difficult for the unclad natives to collect 

 the fruit from the mango trees, which the red ants 

 especially frequent. They drop from the branches upon 

 travellers in the jungle, attacking them with venom and 

 fury, and inflicting intolerable pain both upon animals 

 and man. On examining the structure of the head 

 through a microscope, I found that the mandibles, in- 

 stead of merely meeting in contact, are so hooked as to 

 cross each other at the points, whilst the inner line is 

 sharply serrated throughout its entire length ; thus occa- 

 sioning the intense pain of their bite, as compared with 

 that of the ordinary ant. 



To check the ravages of the coffee bug 1 {Lecanium 

 coffece, Walker), which for some years past has devast- 

 ated some of the plantations in Ceylon, the experiment 

 was made of introducing the red ants, who feed greedily 

 on the Coccus. But the remedy threatened to be at- 

 tended with some inconvenience, for the Malabar 

 Coolies, with bare and oiled skins, were so frequently 

 1 For an account of this pest, see p. 437. 



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