THE ANT-HILLS AT THE PARIS EXHIBITION. 245 



of texana by the less conspicuous black hair of thorax, differently 

 sculptured metathoracic enclosure (that of texana being divided by the 

 ridges into square portions), and especially by the much smaller and 

 less crowded punctures of the mesothorax. 



The specific name is derived from that of the subgenus to 

 which the mesquite belongs. From C. dalece the male differs by 

 the broader and shorter abdomen, dark stigma and tegulas, &c. 

 The malar space is much shorter than in dalece. 



At the same locality, and on the same day, Miss Newberry 

 took six bees at flowers of Opuntia engelmanni. These prove to 

 be Megachile sidalcea, Ckll., one male ; Diadasia rinconis, CklL, 

 five females. 



Mesilla Park, New Mexico, U.S.A. : May 21st, 1900. 



THE ANT-HILLS AT THE PAEIS EXHIBITION. 

 By Vivian St. Clare Mackenzie. 



Entomologists who pay a visit to Paris during the Exhibition 

 season should not omit to enter the chamber in the Palais des 

 Sciences, where Mons. Charles Janet is showing five artificial 

 ant-hills. The hills are made of pink plaster of a porous nature 

 covered with glass, through which visitors may observe the 

 ants bustling about in the performance of their multifarious 

 duties. 



M. Charles Janet has devoted many years to the study of 

 ants, bees, and wasps, and exhibited a similar suite of nests at 

 the International Exhibition at Brussels in 1897. His contri- 

 butions to the Societe Zoologique de France describe observations 

 and experiments extending over a series of years, and those of 

 his brochures which treat of ants are not the least interesting. 

 The ant-hills which he has placed in the Palais des Sciences are 

 constructed after the model of a natural hill in a garden near 

 Beauvois, and contain the following species : — Formica rufa, 

 F. sanguinea with slaves, F. fusca, Lasius flavus with Claviger 

 testaceus, L. mixtus with myrmecophiles, such as Lepismina 

 polypoda, Antennophorus nhlmanni, JJiscopoma comata, Lcslaps 

 holothyroides. At the present moment the ants are busily 

 engaged in carrying those of the eggs which almost hatched to 

 the surface, so that the young on making their debut in this 

 world may see it at its best, and enjoy the warmth and brightness 

 of the sunshine. 



It is amusing to watch the audacity of the Lepismina poly- 

 poda, an inmate quickly distinguished by his extraordinary agility 

 and pale yellow colour. A Lasius mixtus returns from his country 

 walk, ambles up to a comrade, and stands vis-a-vis preparing to 



