1092 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



No. XXXI.— INTELLIGENCE OF ANTS. 



Last year I kept some colonies of ants in glass nests, as recommended by 

 Lord Avebviry. One evening I placed some golden syrup near a nest. In 

 the morning, instead of the clear syrup, I found a thick black paste. I took 

 this away and put a fresh supply of syrup. One or two ants came and 

 felt it with their antennge, and then went off and returned with dry grains 

 of dust, bits of stick, etc., and placed them on the edge of the syrup. 

 After a short time the edge of the syrup became firm enough for the ants 

 to mount on it without sticking, and so they gradually converted the 

 whole into a stiff paste. They then moulded the paste into little balls 

 with their jaws and antennee and thus carried it into their nest. 



MussooRiE, 2Qtk A2)ril 1912. F. B. SCOTT. 



No. XXXII.— THE CASTOR RUST ( ? MELAMPSORELLA 

 RICINI, De Toni). 



With 2)lates A 8,- B. 



* The rust on Castor was first described about the year 1815 by A. de 

 Bi vona-Bernardi as Uredo ricini occurring in Sicily. Later on it was 

 described as Cceoma ricini by Von Schlechtendahl in " Fungorum novorum 

 et descdptorum lUustratione publicat " in Linnrea, Vol. I, p. 612, 1826, 

 the Uredosori being apparently taken for Aecidia of the Cceovia type. In 

 1878 again it was named Melamiimra ricini (Biv-Bern) Pass, by G. Passerini 

 in Baglietto F. de Cesati V. and de Notaris G. " Erbario crittogamico 

 Italiano " Ser. II, Fasc. XIV, No. 684. The name was yet again changed 

 by de Toni in Saceardo's Sylloge, Vol. VII, p. 596, to Melainpsorella 

 ricini. It is still doubtfully referred to the genus Melampsorella, presumablj- 

 on account of the similarity of its Uredo stage to that of Melampsorella 

 cavyophyllacearum (D. C.) Schroet. 



I am indebted to Dr. Butler, Pusa, for letting me see a specimen Avith 

 description and figure from Briosi and Cavara"s " Funghi parasite delle 

 piante coltivate," fase XV, No. 355. The general appearance of the 

 European specimen resembles closely that of the Indian Castor Rust, but 

 unfortunately there was not enough of the European material to allow me 

 to study it under the microscope. This description is rather incomplete as 

 are also the other references to this fungus mentioned above. The rust 

 was first recorded for India in the "Annales Mycologici " in Sydow and 

 Butler's "Fungi Indice Orientalis " under the name Melampsora ricini in 

 1906. But no description or figure is given. 



So far only the Uredo stage is known, although search has been made for 

 other stages during two years. The generic name of the fungus, therefore, 



*The historical information contained in the Ist jDaragraph was kindly 

 supplied to me by Dr. E. J. Butler, Imperial Mycologist. Pusa, India. 



