THE ENTOMOLOGIST. S45 



a very large cocoon containing two pupae lying free within it, 

 and evidently constructed by two larvoe working in concert. 

 Mr. F. Moore said the cocoons were those of Bombyx raori, 

 from China. Double cocoons were not of infrequent occur- 

 rence ; and occasioned some additional trouble in the winding 

 process. Mr. Jenner Weir alluded to the occurrence of 

 double cocoons of Eriogaster lanestris ; and Mr. Miiller 

 remarked on an analogous occurrence among species of 

 savvflies, though this was scarcely a parallel instance, inas- 

 much as the saw fly larva merely used one side of an already 

 constructed cocoon as a foundation for its own, and did not 

 act in concert with its fellows. 



Parasitic LarvcB of Py gar a bucephala.— Mr. Butler exhi- 

 bited drawings (and a dried specimen) of parasitic larvae that 

 had emerged from the bodies of caterpillars of Pyga^ra buce- 

 phala, which they almost equalled in size. He had not been 

 able to determine the insect to which the larvae belonged, as 

 these latter died after spinning a quantity of threadsj^'partly 

 black, partly white, on the surface of the earth in the vessel 

 in which they were placed. It was suggested that they 

 probably pertained to some large species of the family 

 Ichneumonidte. 



Ants Storing Seeds. — Dr. F. Buchanan White communi- 

 cated the following extracts from his note-book respecting 

 the habits of a species of ant in Italy, bearing upon Mr. 

 Moggridge's remarks on the storing of seeds by ants at 

 Mentone, as noticed by Mr. F. Smith at the meeting on the 

 1st of January, and reported in the 'Entomologist,' vol. vi. p. 54. 

 " Capri, June 3, 18CG. In the afternoon to the Punta Tragara, 

 where a colony of ants afforded us much amusement. These 

 little insects had a regular road, made by cutting away the grass 

 and other plants in their way. This road was about one inch 

 and a half w'ide and several yards long, and led to a large 

 clump of plants in seed. Along this road a long train of ants 

 were perpetually travelling to the nest (or formicarium), bear- 

 ing with them pods of Leguminous plants, seeds of grass and 

 of Composilae (Chrysanthemum segetum), &c. The perse- 

 verance with which a single ant would tug and draw a pod 

 four times its own length was very interesting; sometimes 

 three or four ants would unite in carrying one burden. Near 

 the formicarium was a great mass of debris, consisting of 



