130 | REPORT—1858. 
describes, looking under stones, &c. ‘The nests of Formica fuliginosa are more pro- 
ductive rather later, when the ants are in activity ; but the investigation is to be car- 
ried on chiefly in the neighbourhood of the nest, in damp places around it, and where 
the antsrun. The ground being stirred up, the insects will appear if you watch for 
them. Little is usually to be obtained in the nest, which is generally in the trunk 
of an old tree. The nests of F. fusca, F. flava, and Myrmica rubra afford but few 
species, and these are chiefly to be found in the galleries, under stones, &c, which 
may lie upon the nests, It is reasonable to expect that more species may be obtained 
by the examination of the nests of other ants, especially as the denizens of one kind 
appear seldom to associate with those of others. Formica fusca and F’, flava seem to 
be the most convertible, i, e. you often find the same insects in both. In the nests 
of F. fuliginosa you almost invariably find something. As to those of F. rufa, you 
get many in some, but in very many nothing. Of those of F. flava, F, fusca, and 
Myrmica rubra, you may examine hundreds and get nothing, As yet we have obtained 
results from only a few species, viz. Formica sanguinolenta, F. flava, F. fusca, F, 
fuliginosa, F. rufa, and Myrmica rubra. The author illustrated his paper by speci- 
mens of the ants, and under each placed the genera and species of Coleoptera usually 
associated witl them, and which may be expected to be found in their nests. He 
also subjoined to the Catalogue remarks on the localities and habits of the individual 
species. 
On the Occurrence of Bombyx mori ix @ wild state in this Country. 
By the Rev. F. F. Sratuam, Incumbent of St. Peter’s, Walworth. 
The author referred to the many costly attempts which have been made during 
the last two centuries to domesticate the Bombyx mori, or common silkworm, in this 
country, all of which kad proved unsuccessful hitherto from the rigour of the climate 
and other causes. He then instanced the following curious fact, as an illustration of 
the power of instinct in enabling the insect to adapt itself to circumstances, and 
argued the possibility of rearing a more hardy species of Bombyx, which might 
hereafter be made useful for commercial purposes, giving, as his authority for the 
statements, the Rev. W. Fox, curate of West Malling, Kent, to whom he had been 
indebted for them. On the 10th of July, in the present year, a number of silk- 
worms, estimated at from 80 to 100, were found under a hedge in a place called 
Banksfield, near West Malling, not far from Maidstone, Kent. There was no ap- 
pearance of the insects having been scattered accidentally in the place; but, on the 
contrary, every indication of their having been hatched and sustained for some time 
in the spot where they were discovered. The leaves of several plants in the imme- 
diate vicinity were much jagged and eaten, showing plainly that the insects had for 
some time been feeding upon them. A bush of the Rubus fruticosus, the common 
bramble, among others, had been partially despoiled of its leaves. When discovered, 
about three-fourths of the whole number had spun their cocoons, which were 
hanging in all directions upon the weeds and the bramble referred to. Some were 
just commencing the spinning process, while others were yet in the larva state, and 
were feeding quietly or roving about in quest of suitable places in which to construct 
their silken cells. Both the silk cocoons and the remaining larve were subjected to 
a close examination by the aid of a microscope, and were compared with other silk- 
worms and cocoons, which had been bred or formed under the shelter of a house, 
but no perceptible difference of species could be discovered by those who conducted 
the examination. ‘The reverend gentleman expressed his dissent from the opinion 
which prevailed in the neighbourhood of the occurrence, that the insects had been 
the produce of a moth which might have fluttered away from the town during the 
preceding summer, and accounted for their appearance by imagining that some piece 
of paper having the ova deposited on it had been blown from a window-sill or other 
lofty spot, where it had been exposed to the rays of the sun, and had gradually been 
swept by currents of wind into the locality where the insects were found, where, 
having been favourably settled as regards warmth and shelter, the young larve had 
emerged from their eggs, and sought congenial nourishment amidst the surround- 
ing vegetation, ‘The author alluded to the recent failure in the breed of silkworms 
in France, as announced in the Times of the 9th of September, and argued the 
