6388 Insects. 



were obtained for comparison : through the kindness of Mr. Parfitt I 

 have received examples of the female, and of the workers, major and 

 minor; on a comparison of these with specimens of Myrmica palli- 

 dnla of Nylander and with those of the (Ecophthara pusilla of Heer, 

 I find them identical with the latter insect, the house-ant of Madeira : 

 this ant will, I have no doubt, in the course of a few years, become 

 generally distributed, not only in hothouses, but also in dwelling- 

 houses, and will, in that case, prove a much more troublesome insect 

 than the M. molesta ; it is a larger species than the latter, and 

 belongs to the family Attidae, the species of which have two distinct 

 forms of the working- ants, one, the soldier, or worker-major, being 

 distinguished by a monstrously enlarged head, and strong sharp 

 cutting-jaws : the M. molesta only possesses one form of worker, and 

 is a true Myrmica, according to my view of that division of ants. 



Both these house-ants have heen introduced, and regularly repro- 

 duce their kind, and will, doubtless, continue to do so, and become 

 permanently located in this country ; I have, therefore, included both 

 in my forthcoming work on the ants, and I conclude these rambling 

 observations with a repetition of the question, at what time, and under 

 what circumstances are we justified in including such imported species 

 in the list of British insects ? 



Frederick Smith. 



27, Richmond Crescent, 

 Islington. 



A Late Sivarm of Bees : Artificial Swarm. Are the Combs hexagonal or not P — 

 In the ' Zoologist ' for January (Zool. 6348) Mr. W. R. Morris, of Deptford, gives an 

 account of a swarm of bees as late as September 13th (a very hot day here, ther. 78°). 

 As I have frequently found very late and very early swarms turn out to be desertions, — 

 the latter also occurring on calm, hot days, — I wish Mr. Morris would let me know 

 the result of the examination of the parent-hive in a future number. I have 

 kept bees for more than fifty years, and nearly as long ago as the time named, on the 

 4th of April, on a fine calm hot day, I had the " appearance" of a swarm about mid- 

 day : I found it was a total desertion, which I attributed to having carried deprivation 

 of the combs too far in the autumn ; the bees went directly to a chimney some hundred 

 yards distance and were lost. 1 never saw a regular swarm come off any of my hives 



without settling first, but on a hot day, with a scorching sun, unless shaded, they, the 

 bees, will not remain clustered above a few minutes. On two or three occasions early 

 swarms were announced (on the 30th of March) in a newspaper and periodical, and, 

 on enquiring respecting two, one, the owner informed me, was a desertion from the 

 combs, having been entirely riddled by the Death's Head Hawk-Moth (Acherontia 

 Atropos), and the other swarm the wet got into the combs, from the covering being 



deficient and the combs becoming mildewed. Newly-hived swarms will often desert 



