Miscellaneous, 75 



birds, though they generally procure insects from the flowers, often 

 take them on the wing, like any other fissirostral bird. 



What birds can have their bills more peculiarly formed than the 

 ibis, the spoonbill, and the heron ? Yet they may be seen side by 

 side, picking up the same food from the shallow water on the beach ; 

 and on opening their stomachs, we find the same little Crustacea and 

 shell-fish in them all. Then among the fruit-eating birds, there are 

 pigeons, parrots, toucans and chatterers, — families as distinct and 

 widely separated as possible, — which yet may be often seen feeding 

 all together on the same tree ; for in the forests of South America, 

 certain fruits are favourites with almost every kind of fruit-eating 

 bird. It has been assumed by some writers on natural history, that 

 every wild fruit is the food of some bird or animal, and that the 

 varied forms and structure of their mouths may be necessitated by 

 the peculiar character of the fruits they are to feed on ; but there is 

 more of imagination than fact in this statement : the number of wild 

 fruits furnishing food for birds is very limited, and birds of the most 

 varied structure and of every size will be found visiting the same 

 tree. — Wallace" s Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro. 



On a species of African Ant. By Dr. L. Imhoff. 



In describing a species of Ant brought from Acropong on the Gold 

 coast by M. Widmann, a Missionary, Dr. Imhoff gives the following 

 account of one of its habits. The ant belongs to the genus Anommay 

 Shuck. 



" Amongst the various ants which occur at the Missionary station 

 at Acropong, there is one in particular of which both M. Widmann 

 and his wife have a very vivid recollection. One New Year's night, 

 during their many years' residence in that place, an army of ants, 

 several inches broad, entered their bedroom ; the ants scattered them- 

 selves in every direction, and spread over all the furniture and other 

 objects in the room ; whatever fell in their way was immediately laid 

 hold of ; the bed-cover was soon covered with them, until he and his 

 wife could no longer endure the bites of the creatures and were com- 

 pelled to leave the house. The ants continued to stream through the 

 dwelling in an uninterrupted line for half an hour. This visit was 

 quite unexpected by the inhabitants of the house ; they had indeed 

 seen ants in the house before, but only one at a time." 



" This statement agrees remarkably with that made by Reugger in 

 his * Reise nach Paraguay.' The tajy-ne of Paraguay, an ant, appa- 

 rently belonging to the genus Odontomachus, is, says he, a species 

 which builds its nest in the earth, and only appears occasionally in 

 houses, but then comes in crowds and quite unexpectedly, breaking 

 through a crack in the wall or between the tiles of the floor. He 

 describes it also as being exceedingly voracious and fond of biting. 

 These ants attack every kind of animal, not excepting man. Crickets, 

 spiders, mantides, which are also to be met with in the rooms, are 

 immediately torn to pieces by them." 



Dr. Imhoff originally proposed the name of Sphegomyrmex for 



