Insects. 



62S1 



as a quantity of carhiirctted bydroj^en. But the scent that disgusted him delij^hled 

 us two beetle-hunters; as his face fell our hopes rose, and our expectations were not 

 disappointed, for out of the muddy iiole four dips of the net brouji;bt about two dozen 

 of Colyinbetes Grapii. It was impossible to clean them, so they went, dirty as they 

 were, into the prison ready for them, where they looked like veritable bottle imps. 

 The other beetles fished out were few and of common species, so that the Slile Grapii 

 had had it all their own way in their elysium until they were so rudely intruded upon. 

 By the time the net had been four times examined there was not light enouj^h to 

 distinguish any more of the black hexapods on so dark a ground, and although 

 doubtless many more remained in the hole they got only a terrible fright. J ust when 

 the discovery of their retreat was made, we had become aware that the warm and still 

 air was full of flying creatures rejoicing in the twilight; those that were caught were 

 chiefly Hydrobii and Philhydri, but there were also a few good SlaphylinidiE. To 

 close this inverted story, I may say that we began our researches by hunting among 

 the debris on the ground, and were rewarded with Stenus solatus, S. impressus and 

 Anchomenus gracilis. When winter and water return, and the beetles are concentred 

 in the tufts of grass, we hope to get more of these interesting species. — /. W. Douglas ; 

 Lee ; Sept. 18, 1858. — From ' The Intelligencer.'' 



Notes on Myrmecophilous Colenptera. — I imagine that the interest of the entomolo- 

 gists of the Association may possibly be excited by the tolerably comjdete collection of 

 the known British myrmecophilous insects. It is a group which until recently has been 

 almost unknown to our naturalists, and embraces a considerable number of creatures 

 which had hitherto escaped their researches. Most of these singular animals appear 

 to spend their lives, sometimes in the immediate vicinity of the ants' nests, sometimes 

 in the very heart of them ; and although endowed with ample powers of flight, wander 

 but little from their quarters. Hence it has has happened that a casual specimen has 

 now and then fallen to the lot of the collector, and the greater part have been unknown, 

 or known only as unique, or nearly unique, examples, and even their authenticity 

 suspected. Messrs. Janson and Waterhouse acting as pioneers, Messrs. Reading, 

 Edwin Shepherd, Douglas, myself, and sundry others, have, within the last few years, 

 by carrying on the war in and about the nests themselves, brought to light many new 

 species, or found others to be abundant which were previously almost unknown. Mr. 

 Janson basin the ' Entomologists Annual,' of last year, published a most valuable 

 account of the habits of these insects, and the mode of searching for them. I must 

 say, however, that I cannot sympathise with him in his tender feelings towards these 

 voracious hosts of our coleopterous favourites. According to my own experience, the 

 spring, i.e. about April and May, is the most productive season for examining the nests 

 of Formica rufa (which affords much the greatest number of insects) before the ants 

 have actively begun their labours : the Coleoptera then seem to be accumulated in 

 their immediate neighbourhood, instead of being scattered over a large extent of 

 ground as they subsequently are. Soon after this period we often see the ants 

 commence the process of gradually deserting an old and inconvenient nest, and taking 

 up new quarters close by. I have found these old nests aff"ord by far the best harvest 

 of insects, which in the appetite for formic acid or its odour (apparently necessary to 

 their constitution) congregate amongst the few remaining ants. If a few showers of 

 rain should then fall and wash away the acid, the beetles entirely desert the nest. 

 The most efficient plan of search with this nest is to place a few handfuls of the 

 material taken from near the ants upon a somewhat fine cabbage-net, laid on a sheet 



