48 



species in the economy of nature. Some species of the genus 

 Ithyssa, represented by six species, are very common, others 

 scarce. Of Fphialtes, with two or three near relations, there 

 are seventeen species ; some of these are provided with very short 

 ovipositors, others with very long ones ; thus the largest of the 

 genus is scarcely half an inch in length, but its ovipositor 

 exceeds an inch and a half. This one is very rare. Of Pimpla 

 only one species is known, nearly the same size as the preceding. 

 The Ophionid^;, or sickle wasps, are numerous in most species, 

 of which there are 21, j principally appertaining to Anomala. 

 The largest exceeds one inch ; the smallest is under half an 

 inch. 



The PTEROMAiiDiE furnish four, and the CHRYSiDiE, with some 

 allied genera, nine species, one of which is endowed with strong 

 legs for leaping. 



The ants are present in immense numbers, mostly of small 

 size, every inch of the ground in " the bush," except where 

 wet, being haunted by them during the chief part of the year. 

 Some species defy the fiercest heat of the summer ; others 

 never appear in daylight. Only a small proportion has been 

 collected yet of Formica, distinguished among other peculiarities 

 by comparatively weak mandibles and small sting, the latter 

 frequently quite absent. Sixteen species of the larger kinds 

 have been collected, and of Myrmica, with powerful mandibles, 

 terrible sting, and ferocious temper, as many as thirteen. The 

 largest of the winged females of Formica is about three 

 quarters of an inch long, but the neuters are always much 

 smaller. They inhabit burrows in the ground with a solitary 

 shaft ; hide during daylight, and hunt about by night. The 

 smallest species is less than one-sixteenth of an inch, of a pale 

 ochreous colour, and never appears voluntarily above the ground 

 in daylight. It is often found in farm-houses with natural 

 floors, to the intense annoyance of housewives, the liliputian 

 armies invading sugar, jellies, &c, and tenaciously refuse to 

 quit these substances alive. Among the Myrmiciclce are some 

 of the most formidable of their kind, nearly one inch iu length, 

 boldly attacking any casual invader of the precincts of their 

 nests, singly and in force, and inflicting a most painful wound 

 with their long stings, scarcely less in effect as that of a 

 scorpion. The popular name " bulldog ants " is a very appro- 

 priate designation. Of these there are three distinct species. 

 The allied " jumping ants " have much shorter legs, are, with 

 the exception of one species, much smaller, and can leap several 

 inches. They live in burrows drilled by them in dead branches, 

 and are black ; but others, of a clear brown colour with a yellow 

 spot on each side of the abdomen, live exclusively in galleries 

 of still living wood. Another small species with golden green 



