_ NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 215 
air were chased by the numerous bats that found their way to the 
spot as quickly as the toads. Sometimes they would cease to 
issue from a hole, when another would be opened by the workers. 
Next day I tried to open the nest. I found that all the holes 
whence the termites had crept had been fiiled up, as well as the 
passages with which they communicated, by the workers; and 
the new part had hardened so quickly that I was unable to trace 
the direction of the passages. The remarkable point about this 
is the season at which it occurred. These insects make their 
appearance in myriads about the beginning of the rains. The 
Queen’s Birthday ball, at Gort House, was one year lately 
interrupted by them; but I have never heard of them appearing 
in November. The specimens sent for identification are a male, 
a female, and a worker, from the nest, which swarmed on 
November 8th, 1883, at Rangoon.— Rosprert Romanis. 
[Mr. M‘Lachlan, to whom these have been shown, says that— 
judging from the specimens sent, which unfortunately were 
injured in carriage—the species appears to be T'ermes taprobanes, 
Walker, or one closely allied thereto. ] 
Note on A New Zeatanp Icunrumon.—I have observed the 
following curious circumstance in connection with the habits of 
Ichneumon perfidiosus on two separate occasions, and have but 
little doubt that it is universal. Iam unable to account for it in 
any other way; but perhaps some of your readers, who make the 
economy of these insects their especial study, may readily be able 
to explain it. While out collecting in the neighbourhood of 
Wellington, on January 14th last, 1 observed a number of this 
fine species flying in and out of a crack in the bark of a large 
black pine. Being desirous of discovering what attracted them, 
I removed a large portion of the bark, and found that there were 
over sixty insects crowded together in the hollows and irregula- 
rities underneath. I captured several, and examined a great 
number of them, and found them to be all females. There was 
no difficulty in doing this, as the most cursory glance could not 
fail to detect their short ovipositors. There was no nest of any 
kind, the cavity being a natural one, the ichneumons not having 
improved on it in any way. On the other occasion I found a 
number of these insects under exactly similar circumstances, 
about five miles from here, but there were none fiying round the 
tree. They were, as before, all females, and seemed torpid, which 
