( xlviii ) 



ant Crematoy aster sordidula, specimens of which he watched 

 while feeding on some drops of honey which the much larger 

 Formica cinerea desired to share : the moment one approached, 

 however, the little Orematogasters simply threatened them 

 with the tip of their abdomen, and the fear of the poison to 

 follow caused the Formicas to immediately beat a hasty 

 retreat. Some hornets recently kept by Professor Poulton 

 have been observed by him to warn in the most marked 

 manner with their abdomen and sting when disturbed : the 

 same habit has been noticed in the case of certain wasps, and 

 is probably common throughout the Aculeate Hymenoptera. 

 I am strongly of opinion that the warning attitudes of snakes 

 and stinging insects, and also the hissings and rattlings of 

 the former and the angry hummings of the latter are in a 

 great measure meant to avoid an unnecessary expenditure 

 of power : the secretion of poison is a considerable drain on 

 the system, and if the object in view can be obtained without 

 its actual use, so much the better for the constitution and for 

 the economy of the creature in question. 



Since I wrote the foregoing an interesting article by Mr. 

 Donisthorpe has appeared in the " Entomologist's Record " 

 (vol. xiii, No. 12, p. 347), "On some experiments with 

 Myrmecophilous Coleoptera " : in describing the behaviour 

 of Dinarda Maerheli he says : " When the species meets an 

 ant it stands still and raises the abdomen over the body, and 

 if the ant tries to attack it (which they often do), it pokes 

 the end of the body into the ant's face. The ant starts back 

 and the beetle resumes its career." This is the invariable 

 defence of the beetle : it belongs to what Father Wasmann 

 calls " the hostile persecuted lodgers," and they, of course, all 

 require protection. The other beetles which were observed 

 to adopt the same means of defence were : Notothecta Jlavipes, 

 Thiasophila angulata, Myrmedonia humeralis, funesta and 

 lugens, Astilbus canaliculatus and Quedius brevis. It is pro- 

 bable that the very curious attitude of Encephalus complicans 

 may be an analogous case. 



6. We have just alluded to warning sounds: the angry note 

 of a bee about to sting is quite different from its ordinary 

 hum, and I have a strong impression from an experience I 



