132 [June, 



lesia unifasciata (five, which emerged July 15th to August 11th 

 from pupae received in February, 1892 !), Phyllocnistis suffusella, 

 Lithocolletis cerasicolella, besides the very rare L. distentella and 

 Asyclina ceratella. From a present of a bountiful supply of galls on 

 stems of Polygonum aviculare containing full-fed larvae of the last- 

 named, collected on August 10th and 12tb, 1893, in a sloping field on 

 the downs to the north of Shoreham, Sussex, in which an expected 

 crop of oats had to a great extent failed to come up, and the insect 

 and its food-plant had not failed to make the most of their opportunities 

 for running riot, only eleven perfect specimens (varying greatly in size) 

 and one or two wretched cripples emerged last season, the first not till 

 August 21st, the last on September 8th. My want of better success in 

 breeding them, as also to some extent the lateness of their appearance, 

 was almost certainly due to their being kept till July in too shady, 

 and therefore too cool, a spot, where the direct rays of the sun could 

 not reach them, and the thought occurs that the same cause may have 

 brought about the ill success of others who enjoyed like opportunities, 

 for a similar batch placed by a judicious friend, who alone escaped 

 disappointment, right out in the open and fully exposed to the sun- 

 shine, yielded a large percentage of moths between July 7th and 

 August IGth. Probably not one would have graced my setting board 

 had I not finally, in despair, brought the larvse indoors, and forced 

 them with heat and the direct rays of the sun. " Experientia docet" 

 but it is distressing when the " experimentum,'' from which alone 

 the necessary experience can be derived, can not be first made 

 "in corpore vilV^ ! 



The Rectory, Coi'fe Castle, Dorset : 

 March \hth, 1895. 



PRENOLEPIS VIVID UL A, AN INTRODUCED ANT NEW TO BRITAIN. 

 BY Q. C. BIGNELL, F.E.S. 



PrenoJepis vividuJa, Nylander. — It is interesting to record the 

 occurrence of this ant, a native of Egypt, Palestine, Texas, Australia, 

 etc., in my house, and doubtless introduced with the palms now 

 imported into this country, as I think the following account will 

 show. 



The history, so far as I am concerned, of the two specimens I 

 have taken, may be a warning to others who find insects in their room 

 after a day's collecting, not to jump at a conclusion that they must 



