THE HYMENOPTERA. 35 



properly provisioned she deposits an egg in it, closes 

 the hole with a neat plug of clay, and leaves the larva 

 to quietly consume its half- dead companions. Each 

 female, no doubt, forms a large number of these cells 

 during the summer. While cutting up old logs for Cole- 

 optera, the entomologist will not infrequently come across 

 these nests, when the insects may be found in various 

 stages of development. Unfortunately, however, the sight 

 which usually meets his eye is a large number of legs and 

 other fragments of spiders, the fugax having long since 

 deserted the burrow, and being very probably engaged in 

 forming others in a neighbouring tree. These insects are 

 very ferocious, and will attack spiders which considerably 

 exceed them in size. On one occasion I noticed a very 

 large one at rest in the centre of its web, which was 

 suddenly noticed by a passing fugax, which immediately 

 sprang upon its back, and, in spite of violent move- 

 ments on the part of the spider, twisted her abdomen 

 dexterously round and stung her victim in the centre of 

 the thorax, between the insertions of the legs. This pro- 

 duced almost instantaneous paralysis in the spider ; but it 

 was apparently too large for the fugax to carry away to 

 her nest, as I saw the unfortunate creature hanging help- 

 lessly in its web some hours after the occurrence. 



Family 



Formica zealandica (Plate III., fig. 3 J , 3a ?, 3b $, 3c, 



cocoon). 



This is one of our commonest ants, and may be noticed 

 under logs and stones throughout the year. The nest 

 consists of a number of irregular cavities dug out by the 

 workers either in the ground or in soft rotten wood. Its 

 size varies considerably, but the societies of this species 

 are not usually so extensive as those of Atta antarctica, 



