96 NOTES ON ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA. 



new to science. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, which 

 have hitherto operated so prejudicially, it is cheering to re- 

 cord that since the publication of last year's Annual the num- 

 ber of students in t> his department has increased, and it is 

 to one of the youngest labourers in this interesting field that 

 I am indebted for the first insect with which I commence 

 the list of recent discoveries. In my Essay on the British 

 Formicidce, I described a species of the Genus Tapinoma, 

 of Foerster; this insect was previously unknown as British, 

 the sexes described were the worker and male. During the 

 past season Mr. Frederick Grant, jun., discovered two nests 

 of Tapinoma erratica ; to him I am indebted for a number 

 of examples of the worker and the only two females which 

 he captured. Mr. Grant left this country too early in the 

 season to procure the winged individuals from the formi- 

 carium; one of the colonies was found in Coomb Wood, 

 the other at Weybridge, Surrey ; this shows that the species 

 is scattered and only wants hunting for. I confidently an- 

 ticipate the discovery of several of the species of Formicidce 

 found abundantly on the Continent, and very widely dis- 

 tributed. On the last occasion of Mr. Grant's visiting the 

 colony of Tapinoma, at Coomb Wood, the males and 

 females were in the pupa state, spun up in silken cocoons. 



Myrmica Icevinodis I found in great abundance at Deal, 

 and along the coast at different points between that place 

 and Dover ; at the latter it was very plentiful ; Mr. Baly 

 found it at Folkestone : it appears to be quite as abundant as 

 31, scabrinodes along the south-eastern coast ; it has not, 

 to my knowledge, occurred in the vicinity of the metropolis. 



PompUus ruP'pes; this beautiful insect is not uncommon 

 at Deal during the month of September. I captured not 

 only the varieties mentioned in Shuckard's Essay, but also 

 examples, with all the legs black, and the usual white spots 

 entirely wanting on the abdomen ; the latter variety occurs 



