480 NOTES ON VARIOUS INSECTS. 



cells varied in depth from nine to ten and a half lines, regular 

 hexagons, three and a half lines internal diameter ; the passage 

 to it was sloping upward, lined with the same substance, and 

 large enough to admit a child's hand ; the external envelope 

 was decaying very fast, and the damp had begun to affect the 

 base of the cells, which probably led to its early desertion. 

 [See Note G.] 



Philanthus- {Fossores.) — I should be much obliged if you 

 would state in what respect P. triangulum varies in the ner- 

 vures of the wings from the type of the genus, as I have five 

 species of a genus which varies from PJiilcmthus only in the 

 nervure between the second and third submarginal cells, which 

 in P. trianr/uhom, as figured by Mr. Shuckard, is a little curved 

 and oblique, but in all my specimens are straight and trans- 

 verse ; all the other nerves are the same, and the cells in the 

 same proportion as figured ; the clypeus is trilobate, the 

 antennae slighdy thickened ; the colour in three species is 

 yellow, banded with black or brown, so much resembling wasps 

 that to a non-entomological observer they would be considered 

 as such; and before I understood the proper distinction I had 

 arranged them with the wasps. I caught several individuals 

 of the smallest species in flowers. [See Note H.] 



Ants' Nest. — In the summer of 1835 I visited a small field 

 enclosed by a wood on all its sides, and having a southern 

 aspect, in search of insects. On rather a steep declivity, at 

 the lower edge of it, I observed several patches of dried cow- 

 dung, very hard, with a few small perforations in them ; they 

 were almost hidden by the grass. I raised a part of one in 

 search of beetles, when, to my surprise, I found that I had 

 uncovered an ants' nest. My opening it to the light of the 

 sun created a terrible confusion among its thronged inhabitants, 

 who commenced scampering in all directions with the pups 

 {vulgo ants' eggs,) running with them in their jaws, to deposit 

 them in a place of security. In a short time they had cleared 

 away every vestige of their young. I then broke a little more 

 of the external covering, when a similar scene ensued of the 

 same anxious care. The crust of dung was very thin, and 

 was all that was left of it, as all the under part was carried 

 away, and their galleries were scooped out on the surface of 

 the soil. J. B n. 



