126 HYMENOPTERA. 



a few specimens were at that time taken, but in August last, 

 I had an ojiportunity of revisiting Bournemouth, the place 

 of its first capture and am now enabled to give some ac- 

 count of the habit of the species. 



Formica exsecta is by no means rare, at, and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bournemouth, although it does not appear to be 

 very widely diffused ; probably its range will prove not to 

 extend beyond the extensive heaths in that neighbourhood, 

 which are being fast brought under cultivation ; I found 

 a single nest on a small isolated piece of common, at the side 

 of Poole Harbour. The nests of this ant seldom exceed ten 

 or twelve inches in diameter at their base, from which they 

 rise in a conical shape to a height of eight or ten inches ; the 

 materials of which the nests are built are a mixture of dried 

 grass, cut up into small pieces, and usually some small frag- 

 ments of twigs; but, if the nest is situated near to fir trees, 

 the needles of the fir are substituted. The nests are very com- 

 monly found in unsheltered situations, on open sterile heaths, 

 and in plantations of fir; they are yerj populous, and the 

 worker ants of this species are extremely ferocious, their 

 bite is sharp, and their hold so tenacious, that in removing 

 them from the face or hands, the body frequently parts from 

 the head. In the month of August not a single male or 

 female is to be found ; in vain did I investigate, with the 

 greatest care, numerous nests, in the hope of at least secur- 

 ing the female. The sexes would no doubt be found plenti- 

 fully about the beginning of June ; a visit to these nests, in 

 the early part of the season, would probably be the means 

 of discovering some interesting species of myrmecophilous 

 Coleopteron not yet found in this country. I trust some of 

 our Coleopterists will be induced to follow up this hint. 

 Formica couqerens, — This is the common wood-ant at 



