232 
HYMENOPTERA. 
The nest is always constructed in such a way as cannot be easily discover¬ 
ed by a casual eye. A greater portion of it is covered over by leaves and 
the portion open to view is not easily recognisable. It looks from a dis¬ 
tance as if it were made of clay and cowdung, mixed with dry pieces of 
leaves, straw and grass. In reality it is a brown silky cobwebby mat¬ 
erial, over which are thickly and closely laid dry pieces of leaves, straw, 
etc. Just as Oecophylla smaragdina, F., workers make use of salivary 
threads secreted by their larvae in folding the edges of leaves together, 
so do the workers of this species. They catch hold of the larvae between 
the mandibles and carry them over to the places where the web is requir¬ 
ed to be spread. The larvae go on laying and stretching threads mechan ¬ 
ically, as wanted. Other workers bring dry pieces of straw and spread 
them over the web while it is still fresh. When a nest is cut open from 
any part, a few of the workers at once rush up to the spot and plant them¬ 
selves as sentinels to guard the breach, while others remove larvae and 
pupae or whatever there be in that portion of the nest, to a secure place. 
After the chamber opened to view is cleared of what it contained, the 
workers hold the torn portions between their mandibles and pull inwards. 
Thus the aperture is made as narrow as possible, and then a couple of 
larvae are brought and the web is drawn across the rent in the usual 
way. The whole inside of the nest is lined with the brown silky cob¬ 
webby material, and the partitions between different chambers are also 
made of this material, but without straw, etc. 
Ants of this species also tend cattle for whose protection they pre¬ 
pare byres of the same cobwebby material and covered also in a similar 
manner as their nest. Such byres were found on a sugar-cane leaf, and 
also on a weed, close to established nests of this species. Workers were 
seen going in and coming out of those cattle sheds. On removing the 
covering large clusters of sugar-cane, aphis were found in the former and 
Monophlebus in the latter shed. Workers of this species have also been 
observed carrying a large dead fly to their nest. Pupae are encased in 
light brown cocoons. The winged sexes were obtained from nests in 
August and September. 
Myrmecocystus setipes, Forel, nests in the ground in open places, 
and there is often a heap of soil thrown outside the nest. The work¬ 
ers collect dead insects and millipedes, and nests have been found 
