1900.] 7 



the insects were mostly beaten out of freshly cut faggots. Here, as 

 always, the brachypterous condition varied greatly in amount, and it 

 would be possible, I think, to trace a gradation from Terntopsocus to 

 the fully-winged form ; in the former the wings in the living insect 

 are often shorter than the abdomen, but the markings are very con- 

 spicuous, because the basal portion, on which the chief markings are 

 concentrated, can hardly be said to be abbreviated, it is the apical 

 portion that is curtailed. In Graphopsocus, as in some other Psocidce, 

 the wings of the ? are, perhaps, never so fully developed as they are 

 in the cf • 



In my Monograph of 1867, already alluded to, I stated that I had 

 seen brachypterous forms in five species, including Psocus nehulosus, 

 Steph., Stenopsocus cruciatus, L., and Ccecilius pedicularius, L., and that 

 they probably occur in all. This was, perhaps, too sweeping an asser- 

 tion. But it would certainly be possible to add to the number then 

 given. And the amount of teratological neuration in Psocidce^ not 

 necessarily connected with brachyptery, that has passed under my 

 notice during the last thirty years, is enormous ; on this I might, if so 

 disposed, have founded genera, species, and (named) varieties ad 

 nauseam. It may be termed Nature's snare, but full of significance 

 from a philosophical standpoint. 



Let it not be forgotten that there are certain Psocidce in which 

 the cJ has ample wings, but in which these organs are normally re- 

 duced to rudiments (or are practically absent) in the ? . 



Lewisham, London : 



November, 1899. 



LARGE COLONIES OF ANTS IN NEW ZEALAND. 

 BY W. W. SMITH, F.E.S. 



On March 12th last, I went up to the gorge of the Rangitata 

 Eiver to procure some species of sub-alpine plants, and to obtain a 

 good series of specimens of the several species of ants inhabiting 

 the district. 



The weather the following morning was serene and charming, as 

 it generally is in the months of March and April in New Zealand. 

 We were early astir for breakfast, and left our camp at daybreak to 

 enable us to climb to the habitats of the plants we were in quest of 

 before the sun became oppressive. In passing over a talus slope 

 composed chiefly of rough slaty blocks, we turned several of them 



