84 THE KNTOMOLOGIST. 



consumed, which is really very small, as on account of the 

 disagreeable necessity of having the ants mixed up with our 

 food, for wherever they exist they will get into the food, 

 more particularly if it contain sugar. The various plans of 

 laying corrosive sublimate and other poisons in their way is 

 useless, simply from the fact that they will not eat. The 

 following plan has been found more successful : — Boil string 

 in a strong mixture of moist sugar and beer; lay it in the 

 tracks of the ants, and take all other kinds of food away : the 

 sugared string will be covered with ants in a few hours, and 

 may then be dipped for a few moments in boiling water, 

 when the dead ants will at once float on the surface. — Edward 

 Newman.^ 



Dormice at Sugar. — I can corroborate Mr. Argent's state- 

 ment respecting the occurrence of dormice at sugar, having 

 myself observed a large specimen at one of the trees while 

 sugaring in the New Forest, last autumn : he was too lively 

 to allow of my captuiing him. — H. Ramsay Cox. 



[I should certainly like to see a dormouse actually caught 

 under the circumstances described. — E. Neu)man.~\ 



Dormice at Sugar. — In reply to the Editor's inquiry at 

 the foot of my communication in the April numVjer of the 

 * Entomologist' (p. 58), I have no hesitation in saying that 

 the little animals which were attracted to my sugar were 

 dormice (Mas avellanarius), I released the one I captured 

 almost as soon as caught, but I had ample time for observing 

 the characters which distinguish the dormouse from the long- 

 tailed field mouse, and notably the bushy squirrel-like tail, 

 the tail of the field mouse being long, thin and tapering. — 

 W. J. Argent ; Fern Cottage, Wanstead. 



Mice at Sugar. — With regard to your notices of mice at 

 sugar, it is a common occurrence here, sometimes two on a 

 tree. I have never caught them to see the species, but 1 do 

 not think they are all field mice, as some were so drunk with 

 the sugar and spirits that ihey did not attempt to get away, 

 and allowed me to hook them off with the net, and 1 think I 

 should have noticed if they had been field mice. — James 

 Gerrard ; Lyndhurst, April 6, 1870. 



Acroiiycia auricoma in the New Forest. — Last night 1 beat 

 from the sallow bloom two specimens of A. auricoma, one in 

 good order and the other damaged. 1 do not think it can be 



