THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



225 



sue, I am made to say that, of the eight winged 

 insects sent me by Dr. Hyde, five are of the in- 

 fertile kind. This would seem to imply that the 

 other three were fertile. As a matter of fact Dr. 

 Hyde sent me five out of the eight found by him, 

 and, as I learn since, forwarded the other three 

 to Mr. Riley, from whom we may expect a re- 

 port as to their character. So far we do not 

 know with certainty that any fertile-winged in- 

 sects are produced in California ; albeit in a late 

 letter Dr. Hyde says that he thinks he has 

 found some of the latter kind, which he has also 

 forwarded to Prof. Riley. — Ibid, Aug. 14, 1880. 



Unfortunately four of the specimens received 

 by us from Mr. Hyde are normal, with eggs fully 

 developed and ready to be laid ; the other two 

 are what Prof. Hilgard characterizes as " sterile." 

 These abnormal individuals are, however, genu- 

 ine females, and so far from being sterile, they 

 may, from aught we know to the contrary, be 

 more dangerous than the other— the greater length 

 of wing and undeveloped condition of the eggs 

 at the time the wings are acquired, indicating a 

 longer lease of winged existence, and greater 

 migratory power. It is still highly probable, 

 however, that this aerial, migrating form of 

 the insect is more scarce in California than 

 elsewhere, though its existence is now full)' 

 established. 



The phenomena described in Mr. Hyde's com- 

 munication are characteristic of Phylloxera spread 

 in all countries, and especially in Europe, and 

 his suggestions identical with those which the 

 facts forced upon the French authorities early in 

 the history of the invasion in that country. 



We refer Mr. Hyde to our Missouri reports, 

 (4-8 inclusive,) and especially to the 6th, in reply 

 to his last question. We have not the reports to 

 dispose of, but they are advertised for sale by 

 Mr. E. P. Austin, of Boston, Mass. 



Later : Since the above was in type, a later 

 communication from Prof. Hilgard shows that 

 he, also, has found the "fertile"' winged form 

 among subsequent specimens sent him.] 



Locusts in the Northwest. — I arrived here 

 last night, and have been looking round to-day 

 under the guidance of Mr. Taylor. But from all 

 I can learn here I am satisfied that there are no 

 locusts in this countrj', unless they are west 

 of Fort Ellice. The officers of the Hudson Bay 

 Co. say they hear of none west this year. 



At Glyndon I was informed by the landlord 

 that a few locusts had been seen there flying 

 northeast ; this is the only place in the northwest 

 that I have heard of them flying. Search at this 

 point (Glyndon) and at the various stations 

 northward, until near St. Vincent, revealed an 

 occasional specimen of C. spretus at nearly every 

 point, but from St. Vincent northward I failed to 

 find a single specimen. Those found showed no 

 signs of having migrated. 



In order to learn what I could in reference to 



the eastern limits of their migration, I went north 

 through Wisconsin and passed across Lake Su- 

 perior to the north shore at Prince Arthur's 

 Landing and Fort William, and then went down 

 to Bayfield and Ashland, and closing the round 

 at Duluth. Although locusts have been quite 

 abundant at times on Kuwena Point, yet at no 

 place around the lake has the migrating spe- 

 cies been seen. One strange fact learned, that 

 appears to be well authenticated is, that the Col- 

 orado potato beetle has been known at Bayfield 

 for 35 (thirty-five) years. You probably remem- 

 ber that La Point on the island opposite Bay- 

 field was settled by Marquette more than 100 

 years ago. I could hear nothing in reference to 

 swarms driven into Lake Superior. — Cyrus 

 Thomas, Winnepeg, Manitoba, July 20, 1880. 



Notes on Harvesting Ants in New Jersey, 

 — The Rev. Mr. Morris has sent you an account 

 of a little harvesting ant which he found in Vine- 

 land, toward the latter part of June. He pointed 

 out the interesting little creature to me, when I 

 immediately commenced the study of its habits, 

 which I leave for him to describe. 



But I now find another harvesting ant, which I 

 at first mistook for Mr. Morris's ant. About the 

 1st of July I noticed several ants with much larger 

 heads than we had heretofore observed, going in 

 and out of the formicary of this little ant. There 

 was much excitement in the colony, which I sup- 

 posed was caused by the invasion of great num- 

 bers of one of our most tiny species, — the little 

 red ant which housekeepers so dread. These 

 large-headed fellows, as well as the big-heads of 

 Mr. Morris' ant, acted like soldiers ; they were 

 both crushing this tin)' species with their strong 

 mandibles and throwing them down, but immense 

 numbers of the little red ant were often more 

 than they could cope with, for these clung to the 

 antennne and legs of the soldiers so as to impede 

 their progress. During the battle a good many 

 of the largest soldiers lost their heads under very 

 trying circumstances. They would be tumbling 

 about, trying to rid themselves of the little ant, 

 when Mr. Morris's soldiers would come up, as I 

 then supposed to help them, but I noticed the 

 big heads of the impeded soldiers were almost 

 always severed, which I thought a very strange 

 proceeding. 



On the 5th of July I sent some of the big-headed 

 soldiers, and their severed heads, to Dr. Forel as 

 Mr. Morris' ant. And now on the loth of July, 

 Mr. Morris called my attention to this ant, telling 

 me he thought it another species which he had 

 found a day or two before, but I still persisted in 

 my belief that they were only a larger form of the 

 first ant (like the two sized large-heads in the 

 harvesting ant in Florida), which I believed up to 

 the morning of the 12th inst., when I found a 

 quiet colony within the enclosure of my " insect 



