(35^) 
IX. An Account of Margarodes, a new Genus of Insects found 
in the Neighbourhood of Ants’ Nests. By the Rev. Lansdown 
Guilding, B.A. F.L.S. 
Read December 4, 1827. 
I vse» to imagine that nothing would give me so much pleasure 
(excepting the discovery of a recent Belemnite), as an oppor- 
tunity of investigating those curious and minute bodies which 
have been so often sent to Europe in collections of shells, under 
the name of ground pearl; and by accident.I have at last been 
gratified in this respect. | 
‘The only person who has lately noticed them is Dr. Nugent, 
a learned geologist resident in Antigua. In the second part of 
the fifth volume of the Transactions of. the Geological Society of 
London, page 463, he informs us, that the ground pearl (erro- 
neously supposed to be fossil) occurs in the marl of that island, 
and “is found in prodigious quantity in the furrows of the land 
when newly turned up." Dr. Nugent appears, however, to have 
suspected its real nature, for he says, (page 473,) **that though it 
be derived exclusively from the marl, it may possibly be in some 
‘unaccountable manner the production of some recent insect on 
the surface. The ground pearl generally has an opening as if the 
larva had escaped ; but in a few cases I have found them without 
opening, containing a minute portion of mucous matter: the _ 
 negroes then call them live ground pearl. It is singular that | 
turkeys and other poultry devour these ground pd andi 
Q2. | I cath 
