( 347 ) XIII. Notes on Indian ants. By George Alexander James Eothney, F.E.S. [Read April 3rd, 1889.] The following notes (which I have been encouraged to offer to the Society by the kind assurance of my friend Mr. Edward Saunders that they might be of some interest to hymenopterists) are confined to my written memoranda of a few only of the more conspicuous or interesting of the Indian species which have been con-stantly under my observation from March, 1872, to March, 1886. Now that I have left India, I often feel sorry I did not turn to better account such a splendid field for the study of these most fascinating insects, but the calls and duties of a business life and the necessity of spending much of one's spare time in outdoor sports, which in India means not only relaxation but health, very greatly reduce the leisure available for steady entomological work, and, as these notes will show, almost restrict one's observations to Sundays and holidays ; still there have been many neglected opportunities, and I shall always regret having failed to find the female of Dorylus, and to dig up a satisfactory nest of Holcomyrmex indicus. Looking back on Indian ants generally, it is strongly impressed upon my mind by many an unrecorded observation that not only do different species vary as widely in habits and character as do the numerous and distinct nationalities inhabiting this wonderful country, but that individuals of the same species will occasionally exhibit, when under apparently similar conditions and circumstances, different little traits and dispositions, so that if you attempt to fix any hard and fast lines as to ant-conduct you are apt to find your calculations and theories somewhat upset. Mr. Edward Saunders has kindly assisted me in determining some of the ant -puzzles, and I am happy TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1889. — PART III. (OCT.) 2 B
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