3i8 Records oj the Indian Musaini. [Vol. XXII. 



a colony, though I have seen solitary females attempting to do so 

 on more than one occasion. A race of Cawponotns compressus is 

 abundant and cherishes in its nest a minute myrmecophilous 

 cricket, which it apparently transports with its larvae and pupae 

 to an3' convenient spot (in an instance that came under my notice 

 a box of books) that it may find on its foraging expeditions. A 

 curious habit was observed on the part of a small black ant 

 (Phidole rhombinoda) also very common. This ant constructs 

 burrows beneath stones or flower-pots and stores up various kinds 

 of animal food, amongst others the remains of beetles, which the 

 workers hurriedly remove when disturbed. A small Tenebrionid 

 beetle is extremely abundant about the bungalow in the rainy 

 season and crawls into an}' crevice. It evidently does so, to its 

 own destruction, into the ants' nests under flower-pots, where its 

 remains can often be found, but the curious point is that the ants 

 store it alive by biting ofif its legs When disturbed they carry 

 off the crippled, but still living beetles, as they do the rest of their 

 stores. The same ant has a small myrmecophilous cricket in its 

 nest which it carries off when disturbed but ajjparently does not 

 injure. 



Mutillids are scarce, Pompilidae, Sphegidae, and Eumenidae 

 common but in little variety. Apidae are fairly abundant on the 

 flowers of Crotolaria striata. A solitary species (Megachile lanata) 

 caused us considerable inconvenience in April by building its 

 cartridge-like mud nests full of honey and pollen in the backs of 

 our books. When the book was opened the nests were crushed and 

 the sticky mass extruded. Several species of Xvlocopa occur and 

 I once took a specimen of X. rnfescens, which does not appear to 

 have been recorded previously from the plains of India. A pis florea 

 is common, A . dorsata scarce. The social wasps are represented by 

 the Indian Hornet {Vcspa cincta) and by Polistes stigma, etc. 



Rhynchota. — The late Mr. Paiva enumerated 37 species as 

 occurring on Barkuda, including 6 aquatic forms from the pond. 

 The number of small Fulgoridae and Jassidae has increased consi- 

 derably since he wrote, probabl}' with an increase of the herbace- 

 ous Leguminosae [Crotolaria striata and Taphrosia purpura). 

 On the evenings of October 7th to 12th, 1920, the "Green-Fly" 

 {Nephottetix bipunctatus and N. apicalis) was very troublesome on 

 account of its vast abundance. To Mr. Paiva' s list of Heterop- 

 terous species I maj* add the name of Chrysncoris niarginellus, the 

 nymphs and adults of which were found in abundance feeding on 

 the Tree Euphorbia [E. neriifolia) in April, 1920. Coccidae, 

 Aleurodidae and Aphidae are not common. The females of a 

 species of Monophlebus, belonging to the first family, occur 

 sparingly on the aerial roots of Ficus hengaleiisis, F. obtitsa and F. 

 gibboia and I have taken an Aleurodid on leaves of the var. para- 

 sitica of the last species. Wooly Coccidae are bj' no means scarce 

 on the young shoots of Taphrosia purpura and Ficus obtusa and 

 on the fruit of the Custard- Apple [Anona squamosa). A yellow 

 Aphid is abundant in the cold season on the creeper Leptodenia 



