I have taken some pains to collect thoroughly, and among the obscurer 

 species of orders too often neglected, which I send home, undescribed forms 

 are very likely to occur. 



Much has been said of the difficulty of preserving collections from the 

 ants in tropical countries. After losing many of my best captures, 

 I adopted the principle of the hanging-cupboards or larders used in the 

 West Indies. A large shelf or tray is suspended from the ceiling by a wire 

 passing through a funnel which is filled with oil. The security thus 

 obtained is perfect, provided the boxes placed on the shelf are kept shut to 

 prevent the entrance of flying BlattcB. Cabinets and boxes containing old 

 dry specimens offer no attractions to ants, and are as safe as they would be 

 in Europe. The rapidity with which insects dry in this climate, and their 

 immunity from mould and damp, are considerable advantages. A large 

 and handsome Lepisina (L. collaris, F.) abounds in Antigua, devouring 

 entomological specimens as well as books ; but it may be excluded from the 

 former without much difficulty. There are but few species of ants here, 

 and all are minute except Odontomachus, which fortunately does not enter 

 houses. Two species only, the red and black, of which I am anxious to 

 learn the names, are formidable to the entomologist, and especially the 

 all-prevailing red ant. The blacks confine themselves to the floor for 

 the most part, and, notwithstanding their agility, do not climb. The red 

 species perambulates walls, ceilings, and furniture, night and day, having a 

 special penchant for exploring holes and crannies. It will attack living 

 insects if imprisoned, making its way through the corks of test-tubes, and 

 into boxes even in the collector's pocket. In one night a powerful 

 crustacean {Gecarcinus ruricola, L.), which I kept in a cage, was totally 

 dismembered and cleared out by the red ants. The crab must have shot 

 his limbs successively, as they were attacked, until nothing but the carapace 

 remained. The sudden concentration of a force of thousands of ants upon 

 a given point, remote from their nest, is difficult to explain, unless we 

 suppose that the first discoverer of a prey does not stay to regale himself 

 selfishly, but hastens to give notice by some occult means to the community 

 of which he is a member. This requires confirmation, but the sequel may 

 be witnessed any day. The enterprise is conducted with equal promptness 

 and intelligence. Two lines of march are at once established, one hastening 

 empty-jaw^ed to the scene of plunder, the other returning loaded, so long as 

 a single morsel remains. Some imperfect proceedings of this kind are 

 attempted by European ants, but nothing on so grand a scale or with so 

 complete an organization. 



A too limited knowledge of names prevents me from specifying many of 

 the insects I have taken, but such as I have ascertained shall be mentioned 

 here. The species not known to me I send, together with a few duplicates, 

 to the Entomological Society. 



