6388 



Insects. 



were obtained for comparison : through the kindness of Mr. Parfitt I 

 have received examples of the female, and of the workers, major and 

 minor; on a comparison of these with specimens of Myrmica palli- 

 dula of Nylander and with those of the (Ecophthara pusilla of Heer, 

 I find them identical with the latter insect, the house-ant of Madeira : 

 this ant will, I have no doubt, in the course of a few years, become 

 generally distributed, not only in hothouses, but also in dwelling- 

 houses, and will, in that case, prove a much more troublesome insect 

 than the M. molesta ; it is a larger species than the latter, and 

 belongs to the family Attidae, the species of which have two distinct 

 forms of the working- ants, one, the soldier, or worker-major, being 

 distinguished by a monstrously enlarged head, and strong sharp 

 cutting-jaws : the M. molesta only possesses one form of worker, and 

 is a true Myrmica, according to my view of that division of ants. 



Both these house-ants have been introduced, and regularly repro- 

 duce their kind, and will, doubtless, continue to do so, and become 

 permanently located in this country ; I have, therefore, included both 

 in my forthcoming work on the ants, and I conclude these rambling 

 observations with a repetition of the question, at what time, and under 

 what circumstances are we justified in including such imported species 

 in the list of British insects? 



Frederick Smith. 



27, Richmond Crescent, 

 Islington. 



A Late Sivarm of Bees : Artificial Swarm. Are the Combs hexagonal or not P — 

 Jn the ' Zoologist' for January (Zool. 6348) Mr. W. R Mortis, of Deptford, gives an 

 account of a swarm of bees as late as September 13th (a very hot day' here, ther. 78°). 

 As I have frequently found very late and very early swarms turn out to be desertions, — 

 the latter also occurring on calm, hot days, — I wish Mr. Morris would let me know 

 the result of the examination of the parent-hive in a future number. I have 

 kept bees for more than fifty years, and nearly as long ago as the time named, on the 

 4th of April, on a fine calm hot day, I had the " appearance" of a swarm about mid- 

 day : I found it was a total desertion, which I attributed to having carried deprivation 

 of the combs too far in the autumn ; the bees went directly to a chimney some hundred 

 yards distance and were lost. 1 never saw a regular swarm come off any of my hives 

 without settling first, but on a hot day, with a scoiching sun, unless shaded, they, the 

 bees, will not icmain clustered above a few minutes. On two or three occasions early 

 suarms were announced (on the 30th of March) in a newspaper and periodical, and, 

 on enquiring respecting two, one, the owner informed me, was a desertion from the 

 combs, having been entirely riddled by the Death's Head Hawk-Moth (Acheronita 

 Atropos), and the other swarm the wet <>ot into the combs, from the covering being 

 deficient and the combs becoming mildewed. Newly-hived swarms will often desert 



