284 SHORT NOTES. 



bottom of the burrows once the prey has been seized. The 

 Collyris larvae differs in no important particularsfrom the 

 characteristic type, though its habit of living in burrows in 

 wood is sufficiently remarkable. Dr. Koningsberger informs 

 me that he never observed the egg-laying and that he never 

 found any very young larvae, he is unable then to state 

 whether the eggs are laid under bark or on it, and if the young 

 larvae excavates for itself a small burrow which is enlarged 

 as the larva grows in size. Pupation takes place in the burrow. 

 In the Dentchi Entom. Zeitschrift for 1905. p. 172 this 

 Cicindelid is alluded to as herbivorous, but Dr. Koningsberger 

 tells me that this is a mistake, the beetle living on small 

 insects, just like other Cicindelidae. Dr. Koningsberger 

 publishes an ail-too brief account of this larva and a poor 

 figure in " Mededeelingen uit ' Slands Plantentuin " XLIV p. 

 113. fig. 59. (1901). It is much to be hoped that more informa- 

 tion will soon be forthcoming about this most interesting form 

 and its allied species. After all it is facts about the life-his- 

 tories of insects that is wanted now, rather than more dried 

 specimens, and it is a standing reproach to entomologists that 

 so little is known about some quite common tropical insects. 



R. Shelford. 



Nesting of Silk-weaving Ants. 



The remarkable habit of the " Karinga " ant (Oecophylla 

 smaraydina) in employing its larva as a spinning machine is 

 well known, thanks to the observations of Ridley in Singapore 

 (this journal xxii. 345, (1890-1) and of Holland in Ceylon 

 (Proc. Ent. Soc. London, 1896. p. ix. E.E. Green. On the 

 habits of Oecophylla smaragdiva). The habit may be mentioned 

 again in order to shew the interest of other observations on 

 another species of ant belonging to a different sub-family. 

 The nest of Oecophylla smaragdina is constructed of leaves 

 bound together with a web of silk. If the leaves are torn apart 

 it has been observed that the adult ants immediately repair the 

 breach in the following manner :— several ants hold the separated 



Jour. Straits Branch 



