154 Zoological Collections. 



length from eighteen inches to Jive feet. It is very surprising that they will 

 not eat any thing of themselves, requiring it to be forced down their throats 

 with a stick, and afterwards pressed forwards with the hands to some dis- 

 tance, in failure of which they throw it up. I kept the one I now send you 

 upwards of three weeks without food, and still he would not swallow a frog, 

 although repeatedly put into his mouth. 

 Gowahutty, 10^ September 1827. 



2. Notice of a shower of Insects which fell in a Snow Storm at Pokroff in 



Russia. * 



On the 17th October 1827, there fell in the district of Rjev, (in the go- 

 vernment of Twer,) a heavy shower of snow in the space of about ten versts, 

 which contained the village of Pokroff and its environs. It was accompa- 

 nied in its fall by a prodigious quantity of worms of a black colour, ringed, 

 and in length three-quarters of a verschok. The head of these insects was 

 flat and shining, furnished with antenna?, and the hair in the form of whis- 

 kers, while its body from the head to about one-third of its length resem- 

 bled a band of black velvet. They had on each side three feet, by means 

 of which they appeared to crawl very fast upon the snow, and assembled in 

 groups about the plants, and the holes in trees and buildings. Several 

 having been exposed to the air in a vessel filled with snow, lived there till 

 the 26th October, although in that interval the thermometer had fallen to 

 8° below zero. Some others which had been frozen continued equally long 

 in life, for they were not found exactly encrusted with the ice, but they 

 had formed round their bodies a space similar to the hollow of a tree. 

 When they were plunged into water they swam about as if they had received 

 no injury, but those which were carried into a warm place perished in a few 

 minutes. — Journal de St Petersbourg, No. 141, Nov. 14, 1827. 



3. Account of a Battle of Ants. By M. Hanhart. 



The author in this memoir describes a battle which he saw between two 

 species of ants ; one the Formica rufa, and the other a little black ant, 

 which he does not name, (probably the fofusca.) In other respects there 

 is nothing new on this subject, this kind of combat having been described 

 in detail, and in a very interesting manner, by M. Huber, ( Recherches sur 

 les mceurs des Fourmis, 1810,) a work to which we refer, not being able 

 here to enter into the requisite details. 



M. Hanhart saw these insects approach in armies composed of their re- 

 spective swarms, and advancing towards each other in the greatest order. 

 The Formica rufa marched with one in front on a line from nine to twelve 

 feet in length, flanked by several corps in square masses composed of from 

 twenty to sixty individuals. 



The second species, (little blacks,) forming an army much more nume- 

 rous, marched to meet the enemy on a very extended line, and from one to 



* Along with this interesting article we have been favoured with a few of the in- 

 sects themselves.— Ed. 



4 



