THE BEMBEX — ANTS. 167 



his face or neck, pick up a Motuca as it was about to settle, and 

 fly off with it. The fly was not captured with the jaws, but 

 seized in the first and second pairs of feet 



The other burrower is that which is known to entomologists 

 as Bembex ciliata, and is remarkable for the eager assiduity with 

 which it plies its labor of love. In color it is shining green ; and 

 when it has fixed upon a suitable spot for its burrow, it scratches 

 away the sandy soil with such furious haste, that a nearly con- 

 tinuous fountain of sand is thrown up behind it. Even after it 

 has penetrated for two or three inches into the ground, the sandy 

 stream issues from the orifice, propelled as if by a miniature en- 

 gine, and being flung under the body by means of the powerful 

 fore feet with their bristly armature. 



"When it has completed its tunnel, which is always driven in a 

 slanting direction, and from two to three inches in depth, it 

 emerges from the orifice, walks about for a time, as if to take 

 bearings of the locality, and then darts off and is lost to sight. 

 After a while it returns, bringing in its grasp a fly, which is des- 

 tined to be the food of the young Bembex. Only one fly is 

 placed in each tunnel, and then the entrance is carefully stopped 

 up with sand, so that it can not be distinguished from the sur- 

 rounding soil. It is a remarkable fact that, however many nests 

 may be made in a sand-bank, and however closely they may be 

 set, the insect which dug them never mistakes another dwelling 

 for its own, and always flies directly to the spot which it has se- 

 lected as the cradle of its posthumous offspring. 



Although the ants have been postponed to a future page, a 

 few words must be given to the insect whose nest will be seen on 

 the right hand of the plate. 



This insect is the Formica compressa of India. Now and then 

 the nest of this species is above ground, and is made of mud, fast- 

 ened to trees and leaves; but as in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred its home is subterranean, it will here be considered as 

 one of the burrowers. 



The section of the nest which is presented to the reader will 

 give a very good idea of its general structure. There are gener- 

 ally some five or six entrances to the nest, but they are so ingen- 

 iously hidden under stones, clods of earth, and any object which 

 can shelter them, that they would not be detected by a casual 

 passenger. The few upper passages or galleries are extremely 



