NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
193 
middle of the road, making frantic efforts to free itself from a large species of 
ant, which had clutched its hindquarters and w»as endeavouring to force it 
apparently towards its nest, which seemed to be close to the hedge, as I after- 
wards saw a number of ants there. There is no knowing how long the struggle 
had been going on. I stood and watched it for several minutes, but the day was 
insufferably hot, and as I could get no shelter from the scorching rays of the sun, 
I did not stay long watching the caterpillar fight for its life. \Vhile I was there, 
however, I observed another ant close by, which I directed towards the cater- 
pillar, and when it saw its mate at work trying to drag away a beast about ten 
times its size, it instantly went to its assistance by getting on the body of the 
caterpillar and commencing to force it along. However, as they did not perform 
their labours smartly enough for me, and as I was too impatient to stand any 
longer in the sweltering heat, I knocked the ants off, leaving the caterpillar to 
recover, in the hope that it may one day become a butterfly, though I trust if it 
does attain that stage it will escape being swept into the meshes of the ruthless 
lepidopterist’s net. 
\^, Radnor Street, Plymouth, Ernest R. Colbron. 
July 26. 
163. The Taking of Wasps’ Nests.— of “ S. D. W.’s” amusing 
account of his taking (?) a wasps’ nest, I here give a brief description of the very 
simple plan adopted by the late Rev. I’rof. J. S. Henslow, in the “ ’forties,” at 
Hitcham, Suffolk, where hornets and “ground” wasps {Vespa rufa and V. 
vulgaris) abounded. Several of his captures are still to be seen in various 
museums ; one, a large hornets’ nest — if I am not mistaken — is in the Natural 
History Museum, and easily recognised by being suspended from a beam, which 
was in the roof of a cottage. 
His procedure was to wait till nightfall, when the wasps would have nearly 
all returned to rest, a bottle of beer and sugar being put near the hole for the 
later revellers. A small quantity of spirits of turpentine was poured down the 
hole, which was then stopped with a plug of tow saturated with it. A corked 
flower-pot was then inverted over it. If the scent did not kill them all it so 
stupefied the wasps that the nest could be dug out the next morning with 
impunity. 
Care was required in digging it up. First the turf was cut off till the nest 
was visible. This was carefully extracted, the “ pavement” being then exposed 
and taken out. This consists of all the stones which were allowed to fall to the 
bottom of the cavity, as it was excavated by the wasps. 
In mounting the nest, it was supported in its natural position on a square 
board (about I ft. square), supported by four rods on another board for a base- 
ment. The pavement was placed on this latter hoard. The nests were dissected, 
one side being cut out to show the tiers of comb, all the grubs having been care- 
fully extracted. As many wasps and hornets recovered Irom their collapse, the 
nests were first placed on a table near a window, for as they came out they 
invariably flew towards the light and were easily caught. 
George Henslow. 
164. Dyticus or Dyti^cus. — It is curious how the former of these two 
words is almost always wrongly spelt. In “ Our Insect Allies,” by Theodore 
Wood, we find “ The generic name Dyticus is from the Greek, signifying a diver, 
and being therefore very appropriate. The name is very frequently, although 
wrongly, written as Dytiscus, the additional “s” having probably been first 
interpolated by a printer’s error, and having escaped subsequent notice.” 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny, 
[With all due deference to our much esteemed correspondent and to the 
naturalist from whom he quotes, it is by no means so clear that Dytiscus is 
either wrong or a misprint. In fairness to Ur. Williams, I am bound to say that 
the name was deliberately altered — as I think, corrected — by me in his “ query ” 
in our last number. The name Dytiscus was, as Professor Miall points out in 
a note in his “ Aquatic Insects,” so spelt by Linne in foimding the genus, and 
this spelling has been followed by a host of subsequent authorities, including 
the Encyctopcedia Britannica and Dr. Sharp in “ The Cambridge Natural 
History.” If Linne or his printer were in error, it is doubtful whether it would 
