68 • OUT OF DOORS. 



some of our rarest beetles are discovered. The colour 

 of the insect is bright but pale yellow, the larger 

 workers being brighter in hue than the smaller. 



Having already done as much mischief as could be 

 done, I had no scruple in removing the remainder of 

 the bark. To my astonishment, another ants' nest was 

 disclosed, but that of a different species, namely, the 

 Jet Ant {Formica fuliginosa). Thus we have the 

 curious fact that on opposite sides of the same little 

 stump were two flourishing colonies of two different 

 species of ant, neither interfering with the other, and 

 both so completely concealed that no traces of them 

 were seen until the bark was removed. 



When their house was thus broken open, the ants 

 showed at once the difference in disposition as well as 

 in form. The yellow ants ran about in a state of great 

 perturbation, and although they could do but little ap- 

 peared to do a great deal. They were very angry too, 

 and one of them, when put into the bottle, attacked a 

 sun-beetle, gi'asped one of its antennae with a hold like 

 that of a bull-dog, and so died under the influence of 

 the poisoned vapour. As a memorial of the occasion, 

 I intend to place in my cabinet the beetle with the 

 dead ant still griping the antenna between its jaws. 



The jet ants displayed no such fussiness, but took 

 matters very coolly indeed. At first they seemed to be 

 surprised into something like activity, but they soon 

 appeared to make up their minds that there was no use 

 in troubling themselves more than necessary. So they 



