226 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [May, '13 



food plants possess certain features that may make for longev- 

 ity and a vigorous line of descent. While the moths emerge 

 in a short interval, there is a noteworthy appearance of males 

 first ; further these males are exceedingly active. Even in 

 day time it is hard to raise the lid of a breeding box without 

 some escaping, while at night they very soon spoil their wings. 

 The tendency of such borers to form isolated colonies involves 

 the likelihood of inbreeding to some degree. As working 

 against this, the earlier appearance of the males indicates there 

 may be some dispersal of them to seek mates afar. Their 

 activity and strength of flight would permit of it. 



With the food plant there is surely a pronounced effort to 

 avoid self-fertilization at the time it blooms, its unisexual 

 spikelets striving to co-operate with those of another flower. 

 Here we see the staminate portion blooming sooner than the 

 pistillate, on the same stemmed rachis, and there is so much 

 difference that chance of self-fertilization is rather remote. 

 Their great clustered root stocks show in part a perennial rec- 

 ord of the culms born, and many of the plants in the type 

 locality have surely been established for half a century. Thus 

 we seem to have a plant and an insect admirably associated, 

 and a knowledge of the food habit will, we predict, bring the 

 species to light from many other quarters. 



Use of Ants in Punishments (Hymen.). 



In British Guiana the natives make what are termed "ant mats," 

 which are employed in certain ordeals, and as punishments for young- 

 sters, especially of the female sex. Certain varieties of "biting" ant 

 are stuck into the smaller interstices of the mat, where they are held 

 in place by the stretching upon the handles of the mat, which is then 

 pressed as a whole upon the forehead, breast, or stomach. (Jour. Roy. 

 Anthrop Inst., July-Dec., 1912.) 



To Collect Lepidopterous Pupae. 



In the spring thousands of young trees are sold by nurseries and 

 are dug for shipment and many lepidopterous pupae are unearthed. 

 This should prove a fruitful source of supply for the collector and 

 give opportunity to rear many rare and beautiful specimens. Work- 

 men in nurseries would doubtless be very glad to save pupae for those 

 interested, especially if some slight compensation were offered. 

 HENRY SKINNER. 



