i6 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [January, 



the least disturbance, would be a protection to the helpless young 

 paroquets, but why do the ants suffer these intruders ? Once I 

 obtained a set of paroquet's eggs from one of these nests. An 

 Indian climbed up a neighboring tree, and, reaching over with 

 his tercado, broke open the nest — the hole being much too small 

 to introduce the hand — immediately the tree and the ground 

 below was black with ants. The eggs were taken out and caught 

 successfully in my insect net, but not until many of the little 

 demons had buried their jaws in our flesh. 



On other occasions I saw the young birds, crowded snugly to- 

 gether in their strange home, with beaks wide open for food when 

 they heard one approach. The Termites, on the contrary, live 

 in large, irregular, conical mounds, hard as rock, and often ten 

 feet and more high. In the day-time there is no sign of life, but 

 if one enters the forest at night the sight is a beautiful and start- 

 ling one — the darkness is intense. Here and there in the black- 

 ness may be seen clusters of glittering phosphorescent light; 

 these are the Termite hills. No doubt the light proceeds from 

 the insects as the particles of the light mass move and change. 

 The light is greenish and soft, and the effect is indescribable. In 

 marked contrast is the glowing red light of the Elaters as they 

 dash rapidly through the foliage. 



Blaps sulcata, a common species in Egypt, is made into a preparation 

 which the Egyptian women eat with the view of acquiring what they es- 

 teem a proper degree of plumpness ! The beetle they broil and mash 

 up in clarified butter; then add honey, oil of sesame, and a variety of 

 aromatics and spices pounded together. Fabricius reports that the Turk- 

 ish women also eat this insect, cooked with butter, to make them fat. He 

 also tells us that they use it in Egypt and the Levant, as a remedy for 

 pains and maladies in the ears, and against the bite of scorpions. Carsten 

 Niebuhr also mentions this curious practice of the women of Turkey, and 

 adds, the women of Arabia likewise make use of these insects for the 

 same purpose, taking three of them, every morning and evening, fried in 

 butter. — Cowan's Curious Facts. 



On my way to church, Sunday evening, September 9th, I noticed as I 

 approached an electric light which hung over the middle of the street a 

 column of moths projected outward and downward from the lamp for a 

 distance of three feet or more. It was brilliantly illuminated, those farthest 

 away being somewhat in the shadow of those nearer the lamp. Though 

 many were fluttering about outside of the main column, the edges were 

 plainly marked, and it attracted some attention.— H. E. Valentine. 



