116 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



exhibited (1) a hermaphrodite ant, Myrmica Isevinodis, cap- 

 tured by Mr. J. Chappel, at Diinhaui Park, Cheshire : this 

 insect combines characters of male, female, and worker. 

 (2) Specimens of Coluocera Attae, Kraatz, described in 

 * Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift, 1858,' found by Mr. J. 

 Traherne Moggridge, at Mentone, in the seed-magazines of 

 Aphaenogaster (Atta) Structor. With reference to the latter 

 Mr. Moggridge writes as follows : — " I have lately been 

 exploring a very large and far-spreading nest of Atta Structor, 

 and I find in the abundantly-filled granaries great numbers 

 of the small beetle which I enclose. Platyarthrus is also very 

 common in the nests. I have never observed this beetle 

 elsewhere, and I do not think it would have escaped me if it 

 had been at all abundant in the nests of Atta barbara. I have 

 opened but few nests of A. Structor, owing to their being 

 usually placed either in terrace-walls or in garden-ground. 

 I spend a great deal of my time now in digging for seeds in 

 ants'-nests, as 1 want these seeds for the experiments I am 

 making, in the hope of learning the secret method by which 

 the ants can at will render their seeds dormant in damp soil. 

 1 am much struck by the frequent occurrence of the nests of 

 trap-door spiders in the very soil of the anls'-nests, the 

 spider's tubes often running quite close to, and in the midst 

 of, the galleries of the ants. Ants certainly form a large part 

 of the food of trap-door spiders, and this helps me to under- 

 stand how it comes that the spiders can get a living without 

 leaving their nests. The spider sits watching at the mouth 

 of her tube, with the door raised very slightly, and then 

 snatches in any insect that may chance to pass within 

 reach." 



Colorado Potato-Beetle. — The Secretary read some remarks 

 taken from the 'Times' and 'Gardener's Magazine' on the 

 rapid progress of the Colorado potato-beetle (Doryphora 

 decemlineata) through the United States and Canada, and 

 the remedy of Paris green, which was stated to have been used 

 with success by the farmers in Canada. The fifteen-spotted 

 ladybird was mentioned as a powerful enemy to the potato- 

 beetle, devouring it in the larva-stale. The writer in the 

 'Times' suggested the encouragement of small birds as the 

 best security against the pest; but, as it had been stated that 

 the insects when crushed produced blisters on the skin, 



