242 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



reach the pollen-pockets of the flowers, been caught as if in a vice by 

 one of the opposing edges of the five sets of hard, horny contrivances 

 covering the poUinia. 



A very short time afterwards the Eev. L. Thompson, a careful 

 observer, sent Mr. Packard the following details of the behaviour of 

 hees^Apis melUfica) also frequenting the flowers of the same asclepiad : — 

 " My attention was attracted by two or three bees buzzing immediately 

 around as many entraj)ped moths that were alive and struggling to get 

 away. Every moment or two a bee suddenly and furiously darted upon 

 a prisoner and seemed to me to sting it, despite its desperate eiforts to 

 escape. This onset was generally instantaneous, but was repeated again 

 and again ; and after a moth became still and apparently lifeless the 

 bee settled upon and, if my eyes did not greatly deceive me, began 

 to devour it." Mr. Thompson previously noticed tongues of the 

 same species of moth caught in the flowers, the bodies to which they 

 belonged having disappeared. At the time he fancied these were 

 probably eaten by birds, but on further examination he came to the 

 conclusion that the bees had really feasted on animal food, as well 

 as upon the nectar of the surrounding flowers. 



On this fact being communicated to Mr. Darwin, he wrote that he 

 " never heard of bees being in any way carnivorous, and the fact is to me 

 incredible. Is it possible that the bees opened the bodies of the 

 Plusia to suck the nectar contained in their stomachs ? Such a degree 

 of reason would require confirmation, and would be very wonderful." 

 Hermann Miiller wrote " that his brother Fritz in South Brazil has 

 observed that honey-bees (species doubtful) licked eagerly the juice 

 dropping from pieces of meat which had been suspended in the open 

 air to dry ; but he thinks nothing has been published on the carni- 

 vorous habits of bees." The well-known apiarian, Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 however, reminds Mr. Packard, " that honey-bee workers within the 

 hive, on killing off the drones, tear them in pieces with their man- 

 dibles rather than sting them, and that he has seen them thus kill a 

 humble-bee that had entered the hive." Huber, if we mistake not, 

 also tells us that under certain circumstances the common hive-bee 

 will devour the eggs laid by the queen bee. 



Honey Ant— Myrmecocystus Mexicanus.* — The Eev. H. C. McCook 

 recently exhibited to the Philadelphia Academy formicaries containing 

 living specimens of the honey ant, Myrmecocystus Mexicanus Wesmael. 

 These embraced three worker castes, major, minor, and dwarf, the 

 honey bearer and the fertile queen. The artificial nests had been 

 brought from the Garden of the Gods, Colorado, where the honey ant 

 had been discovered by Mr. McCook. They had previously been 

 supposed to be confined to a more southern latitude. The nests are 

 found on the tops or southern slopes of ridges. In exterior archi- 

 tecture they are small gi'avel-covered moundlets, truncated cones, 

 pierced in the centre by a gate or perpendicular opening from 3 to 

 6 inches deep. The interior architecture was illustrated by numerous 

 specimens brought from excavated nests. It consists of a scries of 



* ' Proc. Afad. Nat. Sci. riiila.," 1870, p. 197. 



