148 Entomological Society. 



were carried by their jaws. I sat observing them for about an hour, 

 ■when I marked the spot and returned to camp. In the afternoon, on 

 my return to it, all the stumps were again covered over. 



" The red ant you mention as having been described by Colonel 

 Sykes is, I think, familiar to me. I allude to an ant of about four 

 lines long which builds a beautiful nest in trees, mostly in a mango- 

 tree. The nest is composed internally of a web much resembling 

 that of the earth-spider, but much closer, and infinitely stronger in 

 texture. The outer portion of the nest is a thatch of leaves, brought 

 together by main force, and joined one to another by the foremen- 

 tioned web. I have seen nests almost as round as footballs, and 

 quite as large. ITie mango-tree has its leaves long and oval, similar 

 in shape to each segment of the casing in a tennis-ball, and the end 

 of each branch bears a bunch of leaves (in a circle) to the number of 

 eight or ten : however, these leaves are depressed and brought to- 

 gether in an admirable manner. The web bears writing on with 

 facility, and the insect in the winged state is green. The bite of the 

 worker is severe ; and the scent of the formic acid, when the nest is 

 interfered with, is so strong as to be almost insupportable. 



" There is also a black ant which forms its nest in trees, in the 

 Himalayas above Kimaon, but I have not studied their habits. The 

 nest looks like an agglomeration of sawdust. 



" Oi locusts there are undoubtedly two species, exceedingly distinct, 

 and which migrate in swarms, doing intense damage : — one, a pink 

 underwinged kind with fuscous patches on the uj)per wings ; the other 

 with yellow underwings, and in other respects nearly similar, except 

 that instead of being tawny it is of bright yellow, and which is far 

 more common than the former. Again, there are three other species 

 which are not so abundant, but still do much damage. These I have 

 only observed in loose flocks, and have never taken them in the larva 

 state. The whole country has suffered severely from the ravages 

 committed by the two first species noticed, during the greater por- 

 tion of last )- ear and the latter end of 1843. The pink underwing 

 species were so numerous in the terrai at the foot of the Himalayas 

 near Bennourie, on the road to Almorah, that the branches of shrubs 

 and trees on which they settled were completely hidden by them, 

 and twigs a finger thick broken down by their weight alone. The 

 ground one brickdust red. I observed these wretches in flights ex- 

 tending for miles, so thick as absolutely to obscure the sun, and 

 cause some difficulty to my palanquin-bearers in getting through 

 them, as at every step they rose in swaims, striking and flying 

 against the men's faces in every direction. This was in the middle 

 of October in 1843. Several large flights of the yellow kind I had 

 observed a month or six weeks previously at Almorah. Of the pink 

 description the colour is more or less intense according to age, or 

 quantity of rain they may have been exposed to. In fresh or lately 

 matured insects the underwings are a very pale pink, and the outer 

 ones not much darker. In old and tough specimens these latter 

 organs become a dirty claret and water colour, inclining to Indian 

 red. Of the yellow kind I obtained the larvae in abundance at Nus- 



