Insects. 



8215 



not giving way readily the ant was dragged on with it. The larger 

 piece two or three ants were most perseveringly endeavouring to de- 

 tach, but, like the former, were drawn along, though exerting their 

 utmost powers to keep a footing ; this of course was a great hindrance, 

 but ultimately it gave way, too, when the advance was greatly facili- 

 tated. During this operation I observed one ant go up to another and 

 drag it along by the antennae ; there was no resistance offered, nor, 

 when released, was the liberty resented : what the object of it was I 

 could not discover ; possibly a lazy or refractory member of the com- 

 munity was being thus forcibly recalled to a sense of duty. A lame 

 or sick ant that went halting along was noticed by all comers, some 

 going up to it and feeling it carefully, passing the antennae over every 

 part; others would accompany it for some distance: all seemed 

 ready to aid or comfort it. I saw two soldiers carrying off a warrior 

 of the yellow species ; one had seized it by the base of the antennae, 

 the other had laid hold of the body, the prisoner resisting stoutly, 

 and clinging with the greatest tenacity to any inequality in the road, 

 causing frequent halts ; the force with which it was dragged along 

 doubled the body, which seemingly was in danger of snapping : 

 having obliged its assailants to desist and remove it to another 

 spot, it endeavoured to escape, but was again captured, this time 

 by a single soldier of the red species, which, turning it over on 

 its back and raising it up, would have walked oft' with it had it been 

 allowed to do so, but, thinking it sufficiently persecuted, it was placed 

 in security, apparently uninjured, except having one of the antennae 

 bent or distorted. Henry Hadfield. 



Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 



Coleoptera in Coombe Wood. — The strict preservation of this old hunting-ground 

 has so increased the number of pheasants, that insects may reasonably be expected to 

 be not so plentiful as they used to be. Lepidopterous larvae are so easily picked up by 

 birds that few arrive at their perfect state, and butterflies and moths appear very 

 scarce; but beetles are so inconspicuous, and protected by position in their earlier 

 stages, that they do not seem to have become any rarer. I have taken the following 

 species during the past season, among many others : — Notiophilus rufipes (not uncom- 

 mon under dead leaves where large stones are underneath them), Myrmedonia lira- 

 bata X47), Atemeles emarginatus, Aleochara mycetophaga, Bolitochara bella, Haplo- 

 glossa nidicola, Callicerus rigidicornis (8), Gyrophcena pulchella, Mycetoporus 

 clavicornis, Philonthus carbonarius, P. punctiventris (in profusion under cut grass), 

 P. Puella, P. decorus, Stenus fuscicornis, Oxyporus rufus, Choleva spadicea, C. nigrita, 

 Leiodes humeralis, Amphicyllis globus, Scaphidium quadrimaculatum, Dendrophilus 

 punctatus, Meligethes memnonius, M. erythropus, Lcemophseus duplicatus, Cercus 

 bipustulatus (not uncommon on Epilobium), Dermestes vulpinus, Byrrhus dorsalis, 



