274 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



meeting.) The ants, laden with this sac- 

 charine matter, returned to the nest, at the 

 entrance to which they were challenged by 

 the sentinels and induced to give toll. 

 They threw themselves back in a rampant 

 attitude and disgorgfed from their crops a 

 bead of the fluid, which was imbibed by 

 the sentinels with much eagerness. By 

 daylight all the work was discontinued and 

 the ants had retired within the nest. 



Mr. McCook believes that the honey- 

 bearing individuals are only some of the 

 workers major, in which the crops have 

 attained an enormous degree of distention. 

 An examination of ordinary workers major 

 which are fed with an excess of honey, 

 shows that the crop gradually enlarges and 

 crowds the following divisions of the 

 intestine into the lower and posterior region 

 of the abdomen. The structure of the 

 alimentary canal is normal. Possibly, some 

 of the workers major may be endowed with 

 a special tendency to this development. 

 The supposition that the distention was 

 occasioned by a mutilation of the intes- 

 tines, so that the ants could not evacuate 

 their contents, appears to be disproved by 

 the circumstance that the honey is retained 

 before it reaches the stomach. 



The manner in which the honey is supplied 

 to the colony by these individuals,when they 

 yield up their store, is not certain. -It has 

 been thought that the other ants tore open 

 the abdomens of the honey-bearers and 

 thus extracted the liquid, but it may be tliat 

 the honey is regurgitated, as is done by the 

 workers when returning from the harvest. 



Mr. McCook did not finish the delivery 

 of his paper, owing to the lateness of the 

 hour, but was requested to favor the Club 

 with a continuation of the account at 

 another tneeting. 



Dr. J. L. LeConte then read a short 

 paper containing a list of 22 Coleoptera 

 which he raised from a small bundle of 

 hickory twigs, calling attention to the im- 

 portance of the observation of insects 

 injurious to our forest trees, and to the ease 

 with which considerable additions to our 

 knowledge might be made. [Paper printed 

 in October No. A. E.] 



Rev. J. G. Morris said, that after hearing 

 the remarks of Dr. LeConte upon this sub- 

 ject at the meeting of the Club last year, 

 he undertook to raise insects from hickory 

 twigs, and, with the assistance of Mr. O.- 

 Lugger, of Baltimore, had obtained over 

 30 species ; but, unfortunately he had not 

 been able to bring to this meeting a list of 

 the species. Prof. S. S. Haldeman said 

 that the hickory tree seemed to be more 

 infested, whether alive or dead, by insects 

 than any other tree. 



Dr. LeConte then read his following 

 paper on "Lightning Bugs." 



Mr. Austin said that the flashes of light 

 are always accompanied by a movement of 

 the rings of the abdomen, by which a 

 greater light-giving surface is exposed, and 

 while the beetle is at rest only a faint light 

 appears along the edges of the segments. 



Prof. Riley considered that there was a 

 logical correlation between the large size 

 of eyes in the males of species which had 

 brilliant but sluggish females, that could 

 be explained on the principle of natural 

 selection. The males with large eyes 

 would most easily detect a crawling larvi- 

 form female, while that female would be 

 most readily detected which shone most 

 brilliantly. Prof. Riley further remarked 

 that the flashes of light serve to dazzle the 

 eyes of pursuers, so as actually to disguise 

 the position of the insects when they are 

 flying about, and might thus serve as a 

 protection from enemies. 



Dr. E. L. Mark referred to a paper pub- 

 lished in 1872 by Max Schulze, as having 

 an important bearing upon the subject of 

 the phosphorescence of these insects. 



The meeting was then adjourned to 

 meet at 8 p. m. at the Hotel Vendome. 



(To be continued.) 



^— ^^ 



It is confidently asserted that the cot- 

 ton crop of the present year will be the 

 largest ever gathered — fully 5,600,000 bales, 

 worth $300,000,000. It is also confident- 

 ly stated that this increase is largely due 

 to the operation of the entomological ex- 

 perts employed by the government in de- 

 vising means to check the ravages of the 

 cotton army worm. — Fractical Farmer, 

 Oct. 9, '80. 



