CONTEXTS. XIU 



ordinary colls — Stracture of the Bee-cell — Economy of space — How produced — 

 Theories of different mathematicians — Measurement of angles — A logarithmic 

 table corrected by the bee-cell — The " lozenge," a key to the cell — How to form 

 it— Beautiful mathematic proportions of the lozenge — Method of makinj^ the 

 cell or a model — Conjectured analogy between the cell and certain crystals — 

 Effect of the cell upon honey — The Hornet and its nest — Its favourite localities 

 — DifiBculties of taking a hornet's nest — Habits of the insect— Mr. Stone's method 

 of taking the nest — The Syn(EOA and its habitation — Beautiful nests in the 

 British Museum — Description of the insect — Nest of the Eucheika — Its ex- 

 ternal form— Curious discovery in dissection — A suspended colony — Conjectures 

 respecting the structure — Nest from the Oxford Museum — Remarkable form of 

 its doors, and material of which it is made — The Small Ermine Moth, aud 

 its ravages — Its large social habitation — General habits of the larva — why the 

 sparrow does not eat them — The Gold-tailed Moth, and its beautiful social 

 nest — Description of a specimen from Wiltshire — Illustration of the theory of 

 heat — The Brown-tailed Moth and its nest— Social habitations of the Peach 

 and Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies . . 421 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 SOCIAL INSECTS (CONTINUED). 



A curious Ant from India (Myrmica Kirtifi—hocalitj of its nest — Description 

 of the nest, its material and mode of structure — A nocturnal misadventure — 

 The Driver Ant of Africa — Description of the insect — Reason for its name— - 

 Its general habits — Destructive powers of the Driver Ant — How the insects 

 devour meat and convey it home — How they kill snakes — Native legend of 

 the python — Their mode of march — Fatal effects of the sunbeams — An extem- 

 porised arch— Method of escaping from floods — Site of their habitation — Modes 

 of destroying them — Living ladders and their structure — Method of crossing 

 streams— Tenacity of life — A decapitated Ant — Mode of biting — Description of 

 the insect — Curious nest of a Brazilian Wasp — Weight of the nest and method 

 of attachment — Variety of Polistes nest — PoUstcs aterrimus and its singular 

 nest — Beautiful structure of an unknown Polistes . 446 



CHAPTER XXV. 

 PARASITIC NESTS. 



Various Parasites — Parasitic Birds — The Cuckoo aud its kin — The Cow Bird and 

 its nest — Size of its egg — Comparison between the Cuckoo and the Apteryx — 

 The .^PYORNis — The Blue-faced Honet-eater or Batikin — General habits 

 of the bird— Singular mode of nesting — The Sparrow-Hawk and its parasitic 

 habits — The Kestrel, its quarrel with a Magpie — The Purple Grakle or 

 Crow Blackbird — ^Its curious alliance with the Osprey — Wilson's account of 

 the two Birds — The Sparrow as a parasite — Curious behaviour of the Stork 

 — Parasitic Insects— The Ichneumon Flies— The parasite of the Cabbage 

 Caterpillar — Its numbers and mode of making its hahitation — Trap-doors of 

 the ceUs — The Australian Cocoon and its parasites — The Oae-Eggeu Moth, 

 its cocoons and enemies — The Puss Moth — Its remarkable cocoon — Powerful 

 jaws of the parasite — Ruby-Tailed Flies and their victims — Modes of usurpa- 

 tion—The Cuckoo Flies or Tachinae — Parasites within pupse — Parasites on 

 vegetables — The Gall Flies and their home — British Galls, their shapes, 

 structures, and authors — Foreign Galls, and their uses ... . . 467 



