178' [August. 



'• dudh " grass, is another pretty object. I remember one sueh spot at 

 Nischindipore, Bengal, where this Bee was in sufficient numbers to 

 attract the attention and admiration of any lover of nature. 



The mysterious fall as from the sky of the great black and red 

 Scolia ruhiq'iRosa Fab., as it takes cover in the low scrub jungle at 

 Pulta, near Barrackpore, is another memory. The beautiful tlowering 

 shrub, Duranta plumiert, with its hanging clusters of little lavender- 

 blue coloured flowers, which seem to bloom all the year round in India, 

 is always the favom*ite resort of a crowd of jostling busy Butterflies, 

 from big lazy Papilios in crimson and black livery down to small 

 "blues" and " skippers," with, of course, the usual yellow, orange, and 

 white species, together with day-fl^dng Moths and a few Bees, all eagerly 

 pushing and elbowing theLr way to find the best flowers and the most 

 comfortable positions. A visit to one of these favourite trees was always 

 a pleasure. 



Dragonflies. — ^The tank or lake by the great Banian-tree in 

 Barrackpore Park is covered round its margin with small water-lilies, on 

 every leaf of which may be seen an amber-brown and crimson Dragonfly. 

 The crimson ones are more brilliant than any other insect 1 know, and 

 resting in the sun they appear to be perfectly transparent, and with the 

 green leaves of the water-lilies, and the blue water of the tank, which 

 takes its colour from the dazzling hue of the sk}^, they form one of the 

 most lovely insect-pictures in my experience. A great water-colour artist 

 might with a master-touch catch some idea of the beauty of the scene, 

 but I do not think he could convey with any known pigment the 

 wonderful translucent beauty of the crimson species. I do not know 

 the name of this Dragonfly, which is about the size of our English 

 L. depressa, but there are many specimens in my collection at the Hope 

 Museum at Oxford. 



I will mention only one more incident, which is rather striking and 

 strange than beautiful. 



Myrmecocystus viaticus Fab. — The way in which this big Ant 

 stalks and marches about the rocky ground round Agra in bands of 

 twBnty or thirty, like a military patrol, is very weird, and equally so is 

 the curious habit of one or more individuals of these parties carrying 

 other ants of the same species tucked up beneath them, strongly sug- 

 gesting that the latter are prisoners. 



At Assensole railway station one can always see some of these big, 

 powerful workers striding about the j)latform, as the train draws up, 

 with a swaggering air of impoi'tance, just as if they were in charge of 

 the whole place and the railway belonged to them. 



