FASCICULI MALAYENSES 



29 



have been marked in some way, but we think, even as things were, that the 

 facts go a long way towards proving that the communities of this ant are in 

 the habit of adopting workers from other nests, and it is possible that the 

 winged forms introduced may be brought in accidentally, or through what 

 might be called, for want of a more exact term, stupidity. They did not 

 belong to species which could possibly be confused with Oecophylla smaragdina, 

 and mature females of the latter are only found in the nest at swarming time. 

 From this it would appear that the life of a nest cannot last for more than a 

 year, unless gravid females are introduced, for which there is no evidence ; and 

 in any case the leaves out of which the nests are made are always fresh and 

 green. 



' Swarming occurs, both in Penang and the Patani States, chiefly in April 

 and May. After the nuptial flight, the males probably die, and the females, 

 after biting off their wings — often leaving a ragged piece of membrane at the 

 base — crawl away and lay their eggs either in a curled-up leaf or, very 

 commonly, at the base of the large, prickly, stiff leaves of a Pandanus, out of 

 which hedges are often made. At Ban Sai Kau we found enormous numbers 

 of females in this position in the village hedges late in May. The female 

 sits over her eggs, with her formidable jaws open and pointing in the 

 direction from which danger is most likely to threaten, until the grubs are 

 hatched, but what happens later we do not know ; probably the first batch 

 of workers to reach maturity migrate to a shrub or tree with soft flexible 

 leaves of a convenient size, taking either the female or the immature larvae 

 and pupae, or both, with them, as nests are not made among Pandanus leaves, 

 which are far too large, stiff, and heavy to be sewn together, though their 

 prickles and stiffness protect the laying females. 



' Oecophylla smaragdina is very extensively mimicked in the Malay 

 Peninsula, probably more so than any other insect. Our own collection 

 includes at least three spiders, two larval Hemiptera, a Dipteron, and a 

 newly-hatched mantis (probably Hierodula modesta), which resemble it very 

 closely. All of these were taken in an environment which it frequented, 

 though it was not possible to say in any case that an actual bionomic 

 association existed. One of the spiders, probably a species of Amyciaea, had 

 captured and was devouring a specimen of the ant. Though Oecophylla 

 smaragdina is evidently a successful form, not only having a wide range but 

 also being exceedingly abundant wherever it occurs, it does not lack enemies ; 

 many animals eat it, despite its powerful offensive and defensive weapons. 

 One of us has seen a specimen of the lizard, Cables versicolor, an exceedingly 

 common form in Lower Siam, sitting beside a stream of workers and 



