PREDACEOUS COLEOPTERA. 381 



other parts of the body into their nests, in an oak tree, two 

 and a half feet from the ground. When the last piece had 

 been removed, the large ants left the field and were suc- 

 ceeded by a smaller species, that gathered up the scattered 

 eggs and minute pieces of tissue and carried them off. 

 Soon the large black ants returned to another moth, and 

 began carrying away masses of eggs. The smaller species 

 worked upon the same insect, but were not able to make 

 so much progress. In no case were the ants seen to eat a 

 single egg ; they only devoured the body tissues and fluids, 

 particularly the ovarian tubes enclosing the eggs. Two 

 harvest spiders also appeared and fed upon the egg-masses. 



Specimens of these ants were sent to Mr. Theo. Per- 

 gande, who identified them as Camponotus pennsylvanicus 

 De G. (Plate 53, Fig. 9, 9a), and the large and small 

 workers of Formica subsericea Say. 



In connection with the attack of ants upon the gypsy 

 moth, the following note is of interest : In the early part 

 of the work of trapping the male moths, in 1894, attention 

 was called to the fact that in the midst of the most densely 

 infested part of a grove there was a single hickory tree on 

 which no egg-clusters, caterpillars or any trace of the gypsy 

 moth had been found, in spite of the fact that the trees and 

 shrubs almost touching it on every side were all found to 

 be badly infested. The tree in question was inhabited by 

 small black ants, in fact, was full of them, and to these 

 probably owed its escape from the ravages of the gypsy 

 moth, while other trees of the same species, not inhabited 

 by ants, were infested. The larger species of black ants 

 have also been seen feeding on dead caterpillars and pupae 

 of the gypsy moth. 



Predaceous Coleoptera. 



Several species of beetles have for some time been known 

 to destroy the gypsy moth. On the 20th of May, 1892, 

 Mr. C. H. Rowe found the fiery hunter ( Calosoma calidum} 

 devouring the young gypsy moth caterpillars at the base of 

 an oak tree in Maiden. The beetle was captured, and sub- 

 sequently liberated in a breeding cage containing thirty-six 

 full-grown caterpillars, and others were added as they were 



