2l6 



habiting with this ant were found either on the under surface of the 

 stones or beneath them. Myrmedonia humeralis, however, I have only 

 once met with in a solitary individual, beneath the stones ; but occa- 

 sionally in some numbers under leaves and at the roots of grass in the 

 in the immediate vicinity of the nest. As spring advances, and the 

 ants betake themselves to labour at the extension of the hillock, a 

 piece of old, rough, dry wood should be placed on the summit ; this 

 will in a few days be gradually covered by the newly-brought material, 

 and should be occasionally withdrawn and smartly tapped over a 

 large sheet of paper or cloth ; it was thus I succeeded in taking 

 Dinar da Mackelii, and, in the autumn, Monotonia angusticollis and coni- 

 cicollis. 



" The examinations should always be made early in the morning, 

 before ten ; in the heat of the day I never met with success. A fine 

 morning succeeding a wet day after dry weather is peculiary favour- 

 ably, and should always be devoted to a trip to the ants' nest. In the 

 sultry months of July and August, the ants nests should not be touched: 

 my searches have ever been fruitless at that period of the year ; the 

 young brood of ants, upon which the welfare of the colony will next 

 year mainly depend, is now assuming the imago state, and the old 

 workers exhibit an irritability not observable at other times. At the 

 end of August, or the beginning of September, the collector should 

 resume his researches. Several of the species found in the spring 

 re- appear in the autumn, and two — Monotonia angusticollis and conici- 

 collis — are to be met with then only. He that would succeed in the 

 investigation of ants nests must be prepared to fail ; according to my 

 experience, about one nest only in twenty contain beetles : during the 

 last three years I have tried upwards of a hundred nests, which has 

 involved the transport, in some cases for miles, of no trifling weight of 

 stones and bricks, — for these are not to be found in woods, — but by 

 dint of sheer perseverance I have discovered within the metropolitan 

 district by far the greater proportion of the species known in France 

 and Germany to frequent the nests of Formica rufa " (Annual, 1857). 



So far, all went very well, but in the following year a catastrophe 



occurred, and he says: — "The essay on the laws affecting 



landlord ants and tenant beetles must now be deferred sine die, — the 

 rush made by certain metropolitan collectors to the only localities 

 accessible to me, and where, by scrupulously abstaining from injuring 

 either the ants or their domicils, I had for three consecutive years 

 tranquilly carried on my investigations, — the diligence with which 

 they ransacked every nook and corner, and the ruthlessness with 



