Caution of Ants. 53 



heads and the hinder parts of their bodies involved, 

 and in a short time they are done for. Some ants 

 {Formica cinerea Mayr) which I found on the viscid 

 peduncles of Silene muscipula L. and Silene inaperta 

 L., in a very short time were smeared all over with the 

 sticky substance, and after ten to twenty minutes ceased 

 to move. Wingless ants, however, that always feel 

 their way most carefully with their antennae, will not 

 readUy venture of their own inchnation on these lime- 

 twigs, and, when they come to a sticky place, as a rule 

 turn round and try if possible to go back. StiU not un- 

 frequently they undertake the risk, and step on to the 

 sticky places, when they infallibly are lost. 



The number of insects which meet their deaths from 

 these traps is usually very considerable. Thus I counted 

 sixty-four small insects sticking to a single inflorescence 

 of Lychnis viscaria, and even the number of different 

 species which I have noticed on some plants of this 

 kind is much larger than one could have believed. For 

 instance, in the immediate neighbourhood of Trins, in 

 the Gschnitz valley (Tirol) I collected over sixty species 

 from the viscid flower-stems of Bilene nutans alone.-' 



1 They were as follows : — ^Ants : Formica fusca, F. rufa, Lamis 

 unibratus, L. alieniis Fbrst., Myrmica Icevinodis Nyl., M. ruginodis 

 Nyl., M. lobicomis Nyl., M. scabrinodis Nyl., Leptothorax acervorum 

 (very many specimens !), L. muscorum ; small Hymenopterje of the 

 genera : Bassus, Campopkx, Bracon, Chelonus, Mkrogaster, Eury- 

 toma, Pteromahis, Cera/phron, Oroctotrupes, Bcdio, Leptaris, Plati- 

 gaater, Gonatocerus, Diapria, Jjeptorhaptus ; Beetles : OxiteMs 

 depressus Gr., Trichopterix fascieularis Hbt., Atomaria puailla 



