11 



Mr. Westvvood doubted if the ants inteutioiiully destroyed the Cocci, considering 

 their death as the accidental result of the injuries sustained in consequence of the en- 

 deavours of the ants to procure their exudation. 



Method of capturing Bollocerus mohilicornis. 



Mr. Douglas read the following translation of a note on a method of taking Bol- 

 bocerus mobilicoriiis, communicated by M. A. Kouget to Dr. Aube, and by him to the 

 Societe Entoraologique de France, and inserted in the ' Bulletin ' of that Society for 

 1853, page 25. 



" The locality where I take Bolbocerus mohilicornis is about three kilom. from 

 Dijon, in the centre of corn-tields and natural and artificial meadows, rather lower 

 than the surrounding country, which, however, itself is flat. Tins locality is very 

 damp, and is on the border of a small stream, which is nearly dry in summer, 

 but where, on the hottest and driest nights, the dew is very abundant ; it is at the edge 

 of a field of lucern near this stream that I place myself in ambuscade in order to cap- 

 lure my insect. I station myself upon a road which is rather lower than the field, 

 and thus, by stooping a little, I have my western horizon just above the stems of the 

 lucern ; this circumstance is indispensable for success, for it is between 8 and 9 

 o'clock that I find the insect flying heavily over the lucern, and if it be not projected 

 upon the sky, it is impossible to see it on account of the obscurity. I do not know if 

 the lucern is indispensable to the insect, and as the neighbouring fields have not the 

 same elevation above the road, I have not been able to prove the matter ; possibly the 

 question might be resolved by means of a lantern, but not having tried the method, I 

 do not know if it would succeed. 



" To ensure a successful result it is necessary, independently of the condition of 

 horizon, but for the same reason, to have a sky without clouds, and an atmosphere very 

 hot and calm, without which the insect does not fly ; when the weather is favourable, 

 I take in half an hour four or five specimens of Bolbocerus mobilicornis, but more 

 females than males. I have remarked that those taken at the end of May are the yel- 

 low and brown varieties, which are only insects incompletely developed, those which I 

 have taken in June and July are all black on the upper surface. 



" I do not know any method of capturing the Bolbocerus in the day-time ; there 

 ought to be one, for the insect is then in the ground, as I have observed that living in- 

 sects which I had brought home, and which remained all day buried in the earth at 

 the bottom of a pot containing about four inches of it, every night came out, but in 

 the morning I found they had gone in again ; each day making fresh holes. M. le 

 Major d'Aumont has told me he has often taken Bolbocerus mobilicornis near Lyon, 

 on the banks of the Rhone, by digging into the holes made l)y these insects ; he has 

 also taken Bolbocerus Gallicus, near Marseilles, in the same manner. For my part, 

 I have not noticed the holes of Bolbocerus mobilicornis in the locality where I take 

 the insect, probably because the soil is not sufficiently damp and clayey to preserve 

 their form ; I have not observed any such holes as those made by them in captivity, 

 but I think that with a little patience I might discover them." 



Mr. Curtis remarked that many years ago he saw a number of these beetles flying 

 at dusk over a heath near Norwich. 



