HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



245 



species of " tiger-moth," which fiies like our 

 "cream-spotted tiger" (Arctia villica). In the 

 daytime it approaches most in appearance our scar- 

 let tiger, Callimorpha dominula ; also a pretty 

 Littrosia, or footman-moth, not met with in Eng- 

 land ; and Acontia albicollis, one of the Noctuas, 

 which Edward Newman gives as doubtfully British. 

 The last was hovering over some flowers about noon. 



Formica rufa, the Wood Ant, abounded all over the 

 country I examined. I saw nests in the sand-hills, 

 amongst rocks, and along the hedges of cultivated 

 fields. The colonies were small, however, and nests 

 much less than those at Weybridge, in Surrey. 

 Where a sandy locality had been chosen, little 

 paths were worn down in the saudy turf. 



Formica sanguinaria, the Sanguinary Ant, which 

 is not British, I think, was less common thau F. 

 rufa. One colony I found were marching in a 

 column a few yards long, with small pupse of appa- 

 rently another species in their jaws, which they 

 took down into their nest. It had little or none of 

 the external coping used by F. rufa. These ants 

 are the species that make slaves, and so I concluded 

 this was a raid for procuring them. 



The other most conspicuous insect was a large 

 grasshopper, with blue hind wings, very pretty 

 when it flew for a few yards. 



Of the land snails I found Helix virgata (Da 

 Costa) in great abundance, and very much finer 

 than any English ones, being nearly equal in bulk 

 to our Helix nemoralis. The greatest diameter of a 

 shell by me is 9-10ths of an inch! These large 

 ones frequented the sand-hills. A pure white 

 variety, and some others of smaller size, abounded. 



Helix pisana (Mull) I got on a rocky slope of the 

 river Ranee. The shells are larger and much less 

 strongly banded and coloured thau my English 

 shells. One measures 19-20ths of an inch in dia- 

 meter. 



Bulimus acutus was to be had everywhere, and of 

 large size also. Although I did not get many varie- 

 ties, those taken at Dol, a few miles up the country, 

 were not so fine as some I found on the seashore. 



Birds were scarce. I saw a good many " wheat- 

 ears" and one kestrel hawk. 



Every cranny of the rocks above high water was 

 inhabited by lizards, of what species I cannot tell 

 for certain. 



Lastly, I fouud in a crevice opening to the north, 

 close to the sea, some Asplenium marinum. Erom 

 the position in which the fern was growing it was 

 evident that the sun never reached the spot all the 

 year round. Harry Leslie. 



Southampton. 



Of all birds to whom is given dominion over the 

 air, the lark alone lets loose the power that is in 

 his wings only for the expression of love and grati- 

 tude. — Christopher North. 



ANTS. 



rpiIE conclusion of my former colony of ants is 

 -*- briefly told.* Towards the beginning of 

 October all the neuters disappeared below ground, 

 and for full four months were almost totally 

 invisible. Occasionally, on a sunny day, or if the 

 room was warmer than usual, perhaps a single 

 specimen might be seen slowly and languidly crawl- 

 ing along the surface of the formicary ; but in a 

 very short time it would once more retire below. I 

 sometimes, as with my first colony, placed a candle 

 near the glass sides, but it failed to attract auy of 

 the inhabitants. 



I found that all the females did not leave the 

 formicary at the time of swarming, which took place 

 on September 23th ; because, two or three weeks 

 after, I regularly, for three or four days, found one 

 or two drowned and wingless females lying in the 

 tank. I conjecture that these six or seven stayed, 

 or were kept, behind, to lay their eggs, and after- 

 wards departed to die. 



At the beginning of February I repaired the 

 formicary, and put a stratum of moist earth on the 

 surface. These alterations to some extent roused 

 up the inmates, and a few emerged from their 

 winter recesses, and began sleepily to commence a 

 few excavations. But they showed none of the 

 ordinary signs of life and activity, and appeared in 

 very scanty numbers, until at the end of May, sup- 

 posing that the colony must have exhausted itself, I 

 resolved to break it up. I removed the glass sides 

 of the formicary, and then cut the block of earth 

 into four quarters. I only found about twenty 

 or thirty ants, no cocoons, and I could not discover 

 any eggs. The entire mass of earth was exten- 

 sively burrowed, but it did not contain chambers of 

 any large size ; the nearest approach to which 

 consisted in an increase in the width of the 

 passage. 



Just about this time I put one of the neuters on 

 to a piece of thread stretched tight. The most 

 ludicrous sight ensued. It hung for a while back 

 downwards, and attempted to move along the 

 thread by clasping tight with one leg and drawing 

 itself along by the others. But it soon found that 

 it did not get far by this means, and it tried to get 

 ou to the uppermost side of the thread. But when 

 it had with great difficulty raised itself up, it would 

 invariably go a little too far, and, overbalancing, 

 would fall completely head over heels into its old 

 position. This occurred again and again, until I 

 returned it to the formicary. 



My second colony I started on May 20th, 1S71. 

 I find that slips of strong paper, fastened with very 

 stiff gum to both the inside and outside of the case, 

 are quite sufficient to connect the glass sides, if 



* See Scien'ce-Gossip for 1870, page 241. 



