"218 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



White Ants or Termites. — Among the wonders of natural history, 

 few can surpass the dependence of the life of these insects on that of 

 their queen. This, at least, is generally believed in Bloemfontein, and 

 I have reason to believe it true from what I have known myself. Many 

 years ago (1879) a colony established itself close to the cathedral and 

 to the house of Bishop Webb. Two Dutch Boers undertook the rid- 

 dance, and had to go eleven feet deep before the queen was found — a 

 large grub, with head like that of a bee. Till then the soldiers fought 

 hard, and the hands of the Boers were covered with blood. After she 

 was captured and taken away they became lethargic, and I had some 

 difficulty in inducing one to attack me — but the mandibles cut like a 

 pair of sharp scissors. I left South Africa shortly afterwards, but was 

 glad to ascertain that no mischief whatever occurred afterwards. The 

 creatures are called " houtkoppers " (wood-cutters), and I have seen a 

 plant about the size of a slate-pencil cut to pieces by them. The 

 white ants of Queensland, though about as mischievous, are, as far 

 as I have seen them, much smaller and different. I was told by the 

 Government ant-destroyer that he had found fifty-three queens in one 

 nest ! He had, of course, some difficulty in convincing other experts. 

 In that colony another sort of ant, of a dull red, of exactly the same 

 size, and so able to go up their tunnels, fights and destroys many. — 

 (Rev.) George Glover; 55, Church Road, St. Leonard's-on-Sea. 



Two Varieties of Lyc^ena icarus. — I have been fortunate enough 

 to take two varieties of LyccEua icarus this year in Dorking, both of 

 them on the same ground on the south side of Ranmore. On June 7th, 

 while pill-boxing Lycmia bellarrjus among the wet grass in the evening, 

 I came upon a male specimen of L. icarm quite normal on the upper 

 side, but whose under side was as follows : — The marginal spots are 

 very faint on both the fore and hind wings, and on each wing, in 

 place of the usual thirteen or nine black spots with white circumscrip- 

 tion, there is a single spot, the middle one only, all the rest of the 

 wings being plain ashy-grey. It is rather a small specimen, but, 

 luckily, in perfect condition. On June 14th, when engaged upon a 

 similar pursuit, I took a gynandrous specimen. It possesses the male 

 coloration on the left side, and the female on the right, the latter 

 being of the blue form, though the black discoidal spot and the mar- 

 ginal spots are quite distinct. This, too, is in perfect condition. — 

 F. A. Oldaker; Parsonage House, Dorking, July 11th, 1902. 



Varieties of Amphidasys betularia. — I was much interested in 

 Mr. Gervase Mathew's note [ante, p. 197) on the variety of A. betularia 

 bred by him. Last year I took here a typical male, m coj}. with a 

 black female, resembling the variety described by Mr. Mathew. The 

 latter I kept for ova, and she deposited a large number, the larvae 

 from which fed up well on plum. I unfortunately kept the pupte too 

 dry, and only thirteen moths were bred, but every one of them had 

 black primaries dusted with white scales, some rather more than 

 others ; thorax and abdomen black, some examples having a few white 

 scales on these also, front part of head white ; secondaries pale. I 

 may mention that I was walking in the road when I saw the male 



