294 Records of the Indian Museum. [Voi,. Ill, 



the fact that the apparent rain fell directlj- from the leaves, and 

 was produced by enormous numbers of Jassidse settled on their 

 lower surface. All these Jassids belonged to the species named; 

 they were fully adult and existed in countless numbers on shrubs 

 and trees of all kinds. A favourite tree was the common fig Ficus 

 cunia. Each insect sat with its proboscis buried in the substance 

 of the leaf, to the lower surface of which it clung, and apparently' 

 sucked in the sap, for at regular intervals (roughh' three minutes) 

 several drops of a honej-like liquid was squirted with some force 

 from the tip of its abdomen. The number of individuals was 

 sufficiently great to give rise to the phenomenon described, but they 

 did not appear to be in any way banded together and took flight 

 in all directions on the slightest disturbance. 



3. The nest of the bee Podalirius pulchem'nms. — During 

 a short collecting trip in the Western Himalayas round vSimla at the 



beginning of Ma}^, IQO?? I noticed that a 

 hard clay b mk near the bungalow at 

 Matiana (28 miles north-east of Simla) was 

 riddled with round holes about 20 mm. in 

 diameter. Some of these liol6s were sur- 

 mounted b}' small turrets of rough claj- 

 pellets of various shapes and sizes, the 

 turrets being about 30 to 40 mm. in height. 

 Bees were constantly entering and emerg- 

 ing from the tops of the turrets, and the 

 holes were obviously their burrows. Each 

 Entrance to nest of Poda- burrow ended at a depth of a few inches, 

 lirius puicheryiniHs. after one or more turns, in a small oval 



chamber, the base of which was lined with pollen kneaded into a 

 paste. No eggs were found, but probabl}^ the time for oviposition 

 had not yet come. The bees were identified for me by the late 

 Col. Bingham as Podalirius pulchernmus. Most of the turrets 

 were washed away by a shower of rain during the night, and the 

 bees made no attempt to rebuild them ; indeed they probablj' 

 would have been unable to do so without making fresh excavations. 

 Owing to the direction in which the burrows opened, however, the 

 rain did not enter them to any great extent. The figure has been 

 drawn from a specimen in the collection of the Indian Museum that 

 has been preserved by means of glue. 



N, Annandale. 



XIPHOSURA. 



The habits of Indian King Crabs. — Two somewhat variable 

 species of King Crab {Limulus moluccanus and L. (Carcinoscorpius) 

 rotundicauda) are common in Indian waters; but little information 

 is available as regards their habits, which seem to differ consider- 

 ably from those of the Japanese and American forms. Observations 

 made in 190 1 on the east coast of the Mala}'' Peninsula and recentlj^ 



