3222 Arachnida. 



occupied themselves in carrying off their larvae and pupae to places of concealment as 

 quickly as possible, leaving the Aphides to their fate. Two specimens of the latter 

 were all that I could find. They were of an oval shape, full and swollen, of a pale 

 apple-green colour, If line in length, and 1 line in breadth, with very minute black 

 eyes, the antennae and legs tinged with brown, and the proboscis blackish at the apex. 

 The antennae were not more than one third of the length of the body, and were com- 

 posed of 5 joints, of which the 1st and 2nd were very short, the 3rd very long, being 

 nearly one half the whole length of the antenna, the 4th not quite half so long as the 

 3rd, and the 5th rather shorter than the 4th, and conical : the antennae were slightly 

 thickened towards the apex. The proboscis was half the length of the body. The 

 latter was quite smooth, apterous, and destitute of anal tubercles. The legs were ra- 

 ther short. They approached most nearly to the description of the genus Rhizobius 

 of Burmeister,* one species of which, he says, is found under stones in the spring, as 

 well as at the roots of plants. I am not aware whether this insect has been as yet de- 

 scribed as an inhabitant of Britain; but in the present communication I am not so 

 much desirous of recording anything novel, as of asking a few questions concerning 

 the interesting connexion which is sometimes found to subsist between the ants and 

 Aphides. Were the two individuals which T found, located fortuitously among the 

 ants, or had they been captured and confined in their nest purposely by those insects? 

 It is well known that ants are very fond of the honey- dew excreted by Aphides, and 

 will climb trees and plants to attend upon them and obtain it. Huber and others 

 have also described how ants imprison Aphides in their nests, which they regularly 

 milk, and whose eggs they take the greatest care of. But the honey-dew has always 

 been thought to be excreted by the anal tubercles, of which the species found by my- 

 self were entirely destitute ; I therefore doubt whether they had any connexion with 

 the ants among which they were found. Many species of Aphides live on the sap 

 contained in the roots of plants ; it is therefore easy to suppose that they may occa- 

 sionally be found beneath stones in shrubby or grassy places, and that they may find 

 their way also into a colony of ants, without having been purposely conveyed there by 

 the latter insects. — Id. 



Stratagem of a Spider. — The interesting account of a spider cited by Mr. Norman 

 (Zool. 3152), reminds roe of what I once saw at Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire. During 

 one of my rambles I saw in the corner of a field, where two ditches met, a pretty pink 

 flower growing from the side of the ditch. On going nearer to the flower I discovered 

 a very fine spider's web, about twenty inches square, so transparent that it was not 

 perceptible except at a very short distance. A working moss-carder bee (Apis musco- 

 rum) made a dash at the flower, but unluckily entangled irself in the web ; the spider 

 advanced and retreated at least a dozen times, but was afraid to attack his formidable 

 adversary. I waited some minutes, and saw that my poor friend was on the high-road 

 to perishing from exhaustion, as he could not liberate himself. I therefore took him 

 in my hand, and after some trouble released him from his most irksome situation, he 



* ' Handbuch der Entomologie,' ii. 87. Sec also Amvot rt Scrvillc, 'Hist. Nat. 

 dei I lemipteres,' <>I3. 



