I8-J7-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 2OI 



by means of a pair of forceps held in the right hand. The mandibles of 

 the ant were widely open for self-defence, and as the insect was carefully 

 brought near to the wound, it sei/ed upon the raised surface, penetrated 

 the skin on both sides and remained tenaciously fixed while the operator 

 severed the head from the thorax, so leaving the mandibles grasping tin- 

 wound. The same operation was repeated until about ten ants' heads 

 were fixed on the wound, and left in position for three days or therabouts, 

 when the cut was healed and the heads removed. The ant employed is 

 described by Mr. Issigonis as being about three-eighths of an inch long, 

 very dark brown in color, and of a particularly fierce disposition. . . . 

 The only other observation of a similar nature hitherto recorded appears 

 to have been that of Mons. Emile Mocquerys [in Brazil], Ann. Soc. Ent. 

 France, 2 ser. tomii, p Ixvii, Bulletin Entomologique Seance du Octobre, 

 1844. . . . Mr. Issigonis tells me that the operation is a frequent one in 

 the vicinity of Smyrna, and is, to the best of his belief, practised by the 

 Turks themselves as well as by the other nationalities found in Asiatic 

 Turkey. Unfortunately, he can give no information as to whether this 

 treatment of cuts is followed in Greece, European Turkey, or elsewhere." 

 ROBERT MORTON MIDDLETON, Jr., in Journal of the Linnean Society, 

 Zoology, vol. xxV, pages 405-6. London, 1896. 



EREBUS ODORA. I am in receipt of a letter from Mr. H. M. Allison, 

 of Ouray, Colo., calling attention to a specimen of Erebus odora which 

 he forwarded to me by mail. The letter is of interest, and I take the 

 liberty of presenting its contents to the notice of the readers of the NEWS. 

 Mr. Allison says : " On the morning of the 3d of July, after a snow storm, 

 several of these moths were found on the streets of Ouray. It appeared 

 as if they had come with the snow. On the morning of the 3d snow cov- 

 ered the ground to a depth of three inches, and during the celebration 

 of the Fourth, on Monday, we had the pleasure of snowballing each 

 other. Old residents say that such a thing was never heard of before, 

 nor do they remember ever seeing insects like the one I send you making 

 their appearance under such circumstances." 



Sporadic appearances of Erebus odora in high latitudes have been fre- 

 quently noted before. Their appearance in a snow storm recalls to my 

 mind the appearance in Pittsburg, some fifteen years ago, in the midst 

 of a heavy snow storm in the Fall, of vast numbers of the cotton-worm 

 moth, Alctia ar^illacca, \ liih., which, while the flakes were thickly falling, 

 whirled about the lamps and in a clothing house were swept up, as I was 

 informed by the owner, to the amount of "several quarts." \V. J. HOL- 

 LAND. 



THK Ai'iimm.K OF THE BLACK TIMBER ZONE IN COLORADO. The 

 Cocrid;e, as we ascend the mountains, become less numerous, and so far 

 as we know, do not occur at all in the Black Timber Zone (about 10,000 

 feet to timber line) in Colorado. If they should he found there it will 

 probably be in ants' nests, which have not been searched for them at this 



