30 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
moth (P. Chrysorrhcea ), and shall be 
happy to send a supply to any gentleman 
in want of them, on receipt of a box with 
return postage. — R. W. Weight, 4, 
Gloucester Terrace , Victoria-Park Road, 
N.E. ; April 26. 
Lost, an Entomologist . — Should this 
meet the eye of Mr. Joseph Norton Wil- 
kinson, formerly of Stanley Street, Chel- 
sea, he will oblige by communicating his 
address to the Secretary, Chelsea Ento- 
mological Society, 27, Upper Manor 
Street, Chelsea, as he may hear of some- 
thing to his advantage. 
COLEOPTERA. 
Seasonable Notes. 
Beetles in Ants' 1 Nests. — The ants have 
been roused from their winter sleep un- 
usually early this mild spring; Formica 
rufa (the large wood ant) I saw turning 
out six weeks ago, and the colonies have 
been more or less active ever since. The 
beetles that live in their huge nests, which 
are composed of little bits of stick, and 
abound in woods, are rarely to be seen in 
situ, but by looking over a handful of 
the nest at a time on a sheet of paper, 
they are not difficult of detection, the 
operator always remembering that such 
species as Dendrophilus , Saprinus and 
Monotoma ^re the last to move, and that 
the process of examination must not be 
hurried. The ants will swarm over your 
hands, and are apt to give sharp nips, so 
it is advisable, if you are thin-skinned, to 
wear gloves. Last year there was a great 
outcry about the destruction of the nests 
caused by the reckless proceedings of 
Coleopterists ; I said at the time that 
such destruction was not necessary, and 
that the ants would soon make good any 
disruption of the materials of their edifice 
such as I caused ; the inspection of the 
nests this year has shown the truth of 
my statement, for they are as populous as 
ever ; and even some nests, which, in 
spite of indignant protests, had been very 
roughly overhauled by other collectors, 
now show the inhabitants in prosperity 
and full of spirit. The best way of 
searching is to lay a cabbage-net on a 
sheet of paper, place a portion of the 
nest upon it, let it rest for a minute or 
two, during which you can brush off the 
ants which swarm out of it, with a bit of 
fir-branch or heath, then lift the net and 
its contents on to another sheet of paper 
for subsequent examination, and you will 
find that the most of the beetles, in 
making their way to the bottom of the 
mass have, like John Gilpin, gone further 
than they intended, and now are exposed 
to view on the paper. With Formica 
fuliginosa, a large, shining, black ant, 
which is fond of old trees, are found 
several species of Myrmedonia and other 
beetles. It is not at all necessary to dis- 
turb the nest, for tb e beetles will be seen 
outside running about among the ants, 
or may be discovered lurking among the 
grass at the foot of the tree or adjacent. 
With another ant, Formica fusca, which 
makes its burrows in hedge-banks, live 
some great rarities, especially Hetceriw 
sesquicornis, which is of a sluggish habit, 
and is only to be obtained by careful ex- 
amination of the galleries. In the nests 
of Formica Jlava exists the curious Clavi- 
ger leslaceus ; there is little chance of 
taking specimens except where the nests 
are under stones, as is the case on chalky 
soils, and then by lifting the stones and 
looking quickly down one or more of the 
beetles may be seen, though it requires a 
keen eye to detect them among the ants, 
which they resemble in form and colour. 
There are two other ants which occur in 
this country, in whose nests we have not 
yet found any beetles, although they are 
tenanted by them abroad ; I allude to 
the local Formica cunicularia , which is 
fond of making galleries in hard clay 
banks, and Formica sanguinea, which 
