ENTOMOLOGY. 



217 



provision enough for the whole nest, 

 for a week. Stale food should not be 

 left in the nest and if any becomes 

 mouldy, it must be removed at once 

 and the room cleaned. Cleanliness is 

 quite as essential to the health of the 

 ants as it is to human beings and 

 housecleaning should come every two 

 weeks, but it is not a very serious pro- 

 cess in this simple house. When the 

 ants are all in the dark room, and that 

 is where they usually are, remove the 

 roof glass from the food room, and 

 plug the doorway leading from it into 

 the nursery. Wipe out the room with 

 a cloth dampened in alcohol so as to 

 kill all mould spores, for mould is fa- 

 tal to the ants. Now put the moist 

 sponge in the room after it has had 

 time to air a little and cover it with 

 roof glass and card board, first taking 

 the plug out of the doorway between 

 the rooms, however. Take the card- 

 board off of the nursery now and the 

 ants will obligingly remove their pos- 

 sessions and themselves into the clean 

 chamber when you may clean the nur- 

 sery in the same manner. Always 

 keep the nursery dark, except when 

 the cover is off for a few moments of 

 inspection, and the food room light. 



After you have made the first nest 

 and have watched the inhabitants for 

 a while you will probably want to se- 

 cure other kinds of ants and keep them 

 to compare their habits. Do not try 

 to put more than a single kind of ant 

 in the same nest, at least not until you 

 know a good deal about their out-of- 

 door ways. Larger nests of three or 

 four rooms may be made for the large 

 colonies and small nests for the tiny 

 ants. The animals have been kept in 

 these nests for years so that if you are 

 not at once successful in keeping the 

 colony alive you may be sure that you 

 are neglecting some important detail. 

 Keep the sponges moist, not wet ; feed 

 sparingly, occasionally giving a bit of 

 fruit ; clean the nest thoroughly. At- 

 tention to these things should insure 

 success from the start. 



Peculiar Metamorphosis of the Tobac- 

 co Beetle. 



BY DR. R. MENGER, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



Shortly after my contribution on the 

 tobacco beetle was in the hands of the 

 editor of The Guide to Nature, 1 hap- 

 pened to shell out another larval beetle 



September ! Perhaps your chief 

 merit is that you prepare the way and 

 usher in October, the month of the 

 fullness of interest and beauty. 



PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF MATURING TOBACCO 



BEETLE LARVA. 



Very highly magnified. Original, one-eighth inch. 



from a cigar in its maturing cycle of 

 development — and a most interesting 

 study it was ! Its cubic length was 

 only about one-eighth of an inch, and 

 it was in its shedding stadium. After 

 detecting this specimen, which was 

 partly (its thoracic and head parts, 

 antennae, legs and part of the abdo- 

 men) denuded of its previous external 

 integument or hull and of white color, 

 I mounted it in glycerine on a slide 

 glass, and at once preoared the photo- 

 micograph seen herein, which I be- 

 lieve an unusually interesting and rare 



