900 The American Naturalist. [October, 
gregate about the entrances of the nest and engage in playful antics 
until driven away by the workers. The workers would nip their legs 
with their mandibles until they were forced to fly in order to escape 
being bitten. On the 19th of this month (July) I saw several Lasius 
niger come out of their nest accompanied by a minute little beetle 
( Claviger foveolatus) ; the ants caressed and played with this little insect 
for some time, and then conducted it back into the nest. Many little 
animals are kept by ants simply as pets. Lubbock says of one of them, 
a species allied to Podura, and for which he proposes the name, Beckia. 
“Tt is an active, bustling little being, and I have kept hundreds, I may 
say thousands, in my nests. They run in and out among the ants, 
keeping their antennz in a perpetual state of vibration." I have fre- 
‘quently noticed an insect belonging to the same species as the above, 
in the nests of F. fusca and rufescens. They reminded me very much 
of the important-looking little dogs one sees running about in the 
midst of a crowd on market-day. In the November issue of the Na- 
_turalist, I describe a spider which indulgesin a peculiar pastime. This 
spider spins a web where the rays of the early morning sun strike. 
Through the long diameter of the web, she spins a narrow ribbon, and, 
as soon as the sun shines upon it,she goes out on this ribbon and prom- 
enades up and down. She never takes food caught in this web; her 
hunting- or trap-web is generally several feet away, but connected with 
her pleasure resort by a bridge. 
Sometime ago I witnessed a bit of malicious sport, in which, the 
participants were fleas. I was observing a Pulez sleeping beneath the 
‘short hairs of a dog's axilla. | My lens was a good one and I could 
-clearly make out the body and limbs of the little sleeper. Suddenly , 
there appeared another flea, which stopped short as soon as she dis- 
covered her sleeping comrade. She remained quiet for several seconds 
and then nimbly bounded on the others back. Clasping her body with 
her hind legs, she began vigorously “to touzle the hair” of her surprised 
‘sister. She then sprang away into the thicker hair, closely pursued by 
the thoroughly aroused and evidently angry victim of her sport. 
The females of the coleopterous Coccinelle frequently congregate 
and indulge in performances that can not be anything else save 
pastimes. A beech tree in my yard is called “ladybug tree" be- 
cause, year after year, these insects collect there and hold their 
curious conventions. They caress one another with their antennse, 
and gently shoulder one another from side toside. Sometimes several 
will get their heads together and seem by their actions to be holding a 
-confidential conversation. These conventions always take place after 
