1854.] Linnean Society. 293 



minuter members of a family, and a comparison of the trophi is un- 

 questionably of the greatest importance in arriving at the true affini- 

 ties of insects. 



The paper was accompanied by drawings of Hypocephalus and its 

 details, and also of the details of Cyrtognathus. 



April 18. 



William Yarrell, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Charles Spence Bate, Esq., and Isaac Byerley, Esq., were elected 

 Fellows. 



Read a letter from Robert Wakefield, Esq., F.L.S., to John 

 Curtis, Esq., F.L.S., " On some of the Habits of Ants." 



In this letter Mr. Wakefield relates some observations, made by 

 himself many years ago, with reference to that curious insect called 

 by Horace " magni Formica laboris." Most modern writers, he ob- 

 serves, including Huber, have relinquished the old idea that Ants 

 amass grain for their winter store ; but he states that he has seen 

 the black species {Formica nigra, L. ?) for days and nights together 

 industriously occupied in dragging to its cells the seeds of the com- 

 mon violet {Viola odorata, L.). He first noticed this fact on the 

 3rd of July, 1832 ; and he regards it as a subject of curious inquiry 

 for what purpose, if not for their own future provision, they could 

 accumulate these stores ? Could they be intended as food for the 

 Aphides during winter ? That they work all night has long been 

 known ; Pliny says only during the full moon, but Mr. Wakefield 

 observed them at work at midnight on two successive nights, the 

 6th and 7th of June, in rainy weather and without any reference to 

 the full moon. The late Mr. Joshua Milne, F.L.S., was summoned 

 by a neighbour one morning in February to see a colony of red 

 ants, which he had turned up while digging in his garden ; and 

 mixed with the ants Mr. Milne saw many living Aphides, and also 

 some vegetable substance on which they had probably subsisted 

 during the winter. Many observers have noticed ants caressing 

 Aphides during the summer ; but Mr. Wakefield had never before 



