ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 89 



some portions of dried grass. The nest is supporte<l by the 

 branches of the bush ; a vine and some stalks of marsh-grass are 

 fastened in it. Upon the outside the material is of a light gray 

 oolor, much like that of" the nest of the white-faced hornet. Tn 

 the interior it is darker, in some places almost black. Probably 

 the high tides causing the creek to overflow forced the ants to 

 build their nest above the high- water mark instead of under 

 stones and within logs. One cannot help thinking that possi- 

 bly some species of Hymenopteia, which now altogether build 

 elevated nests, once built them near the ground, and being forced 

 for a long time by conditions surrounding them, similar to these, 

 finally acquired that habit permanently. 



This would seem more plausible if General Lewis is correct in 

 a fact which he states, that the yellow-jackets along Holly creek, 

 in Pender countv, build nests on the bushes to avoid the tide. 

 I mean to investigate this and see if they are the same species 

 which under ordinary circumstances build nests in the ground. 



No. VIII. 



A EEMARKABLE CASE OF PHOSPHORESCE.NX^E IX 



AN EARTH-WORM. 



[See plate at back of Journal.] 



GEORGE F. ATKINSON. 



On the night of June 20, 1887, when returning from placing 

 some Phengodes females where they might attract the males, I 

 saw in the path before me a small phos})horescent light. As I 

 apj)roached it became larger; now an inch, and the next moment 

 two inches long. I was on the })oint of declaring I had found 

 another Phengodes when suddenly it became three, four, and six- 

 inches long, now darting in this direction and then in that. 

 ]2 



