213 



a species of finch ; thus confirming the record of Madame Merian, 

 which had long been considered by many a traveller's romance. 



Every collection of insects becomes of tenfold interest when we are 

 made acquainted with the natural history of the species ; all therefore 

 who possessed a series from the collections of Mr. Bates, found, like 

 myself, an additional value given to their treasures when they met 

 with the history of their economy detailed in the pages of the ' Natu- 

 ralist.' The Coleopterist found that the genera Coptodera, Gouiotro- 

 pis, Morio, &C.5 are found under the bark of trees, and that Calleida, 

 are arboreal insects, running over logs, branches and leaves. Of 

 the Histeridse we learn that one group is found in the moist interior 

 of palm-stems ; another, a very flat kind, — Hololeptse, — lives under 

 the bark of trees ; a third group, cylindrical in shape, drills holes into 

 solid wood ; they look like tiny animated gimlets at work, their 

 pointed heads being fixed in the wood, whilst their smooth glossy 

 bodies work rapidly round, and drive little streams of saw-dust from 

 the holes : does not this description give an additional interest to the 

 carpenters of the genus Trypaneus ? 



As might be expected from so accurate an observer, we find a vast 

 amount of most interesting information relative to the habits of the 

 Hymenoptera ; but I must not trespass too much upon your time, and, 

 tempting as the subject undoubtedly is, I shall content myself with 

 one or two extracts. The proceedings of a species of Bembex is most 

 graphically described ; this is a solitary species of sand- wasp, as large 

 as a hornet ; they burrow in the sand with wonderful rapidity, throw- 

 ing out beneath their bodies a continuous stream : when the tunnel is 

 completed they seek out a particular species of fly, called Mollica, a 

 bloodthirsty insect, and by so doing they become good friends to 

 travellers. An immense amount of information relative to the histories 

 of wasps and bees is scattered throughout the pages of the ' Naturalist j' 

 particulars respecting the different modes of constructing their nests, 

 and of the materials used by the various species ; their parasites are 

 also noticed : at one locality, Villa Nova, not less than 140 species 

 were captured. 



I am sorely tempted to quote a portion of a most interesting chap- 

 ter on the white ants, but to most of you it would be a twice-told tale ; 

 I shall content myself by earnestly advising every one who has not 

 read that chapter to lose 110 time in doing so. Of ants proper, mem- 

 bers of the family of true Formicidse, many highly interesting parti- 

 culars are recorded. Ants are said to be everywhere and at all times, 



