66 OUT OF DOORS. 



I succeeded in finding the nest, cut off the stump with 

 a saw, and brought it home. 



Just before these beetles are about to change into 

 the perfect state they make for themselves an oval cell r 

 so shaped that the head of the insect is upwards. This 

 cell is lined with strips of wood, which are torn away 

 by the jaws of the larva and arranged regularly, like- 

 the tiles of a house. The nest that is now before me- 

 is a little more than an inch in depth, and on the out- 

 side is an inch and a quarter in length by three-eighths 

 of an inch in width. This diminishes, however, both 

 in length and breadth in proportion to the depth, so- 

 that at the bottom, where the insect reposed, it is only 

 five-eighths of an inch in length and a quarter of an 

 inch in width, just large enough indeed to hold the- 

 beetle with its limbs and antennae packed tightly ta 

 the body. The insect which made this nest differed 

 from all the others in one respect. In the other cases 

 the beetles seemed only too anxious to escape from 

 their dark home and pass into the open air, while this 

 one persisted in adhering to its nest, and, as the light 

 was admitted, seemed to prefer darkness, pressing itself 

 into the farthest recesses of its cell. 



Another stump disclosed a really wonderful scene 

 of insect life. On stripping off the bark of a small 

 stump, barely eight inches in diameter and about as 

 much in height from the surface of the ground, a large 

 colony of the Yellow Ant (Formica flava) was sud- 

 denly exposed to the light. The insects had th& 



