16 
THE ENTOMOLOGISTS WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
so I boldly thrust in my hand and lifted 
as much of the nest as I could into a 
large sheet of white paper. ' The first 
thing that surprised me was the heat of 
the nest, the temperature being very 
sensibly greater than that of my hands; 
but I had no leisure to think much about 
this, for I bad to free my hand from the 
ants, which clung to them tenaciously, 
yet without biting, and while doing this 
the strong odour of prussic acid was very 
perceptible. The ants swarmed out of 
the heap of wooden debris which lay in 
the middle of my paper: I swept them 
off with a bit of stick, and after repeating 
the process two or three times I began to 
move the material before me gently back- 
ward and forward, taking up the topmost 
and largest fragments, and throwing them 
back on to the nest. By continuing to 
do this I soon got free of most of 
the ants and the larger pieces of wood, 
and among the dusty remainder I saw a 
little tail curled up, which I knew must 
belong to a Slaph.; so I wetted my 
finger and brought up the entire animal 
by habeas corpus : it was Leptacinus for- 
micelorum. Presently I saw a speck 
shining like ore ; I raised him from his 
degraded position, and recognised Den. 
dropliilus pygmccus. Then a browner and 
smaller brother was visible — the rare Sa- 
prinus piceus, which was being trampled 
under foot by Thiasophila angulata. I 
spent nearly an hour over this handful of 
the nest, which proved the best I ex- 
amined, and, after three hours took stock 
and found I had, in all — 
Dendrophilus pygmaeus . 12 
Saprinus piceus .... 4 
Leptacinus formicetorum . 5 
Thiasophila angulata . . 4 
Oxypoda hannorrhoa . . 2 
Othius ? sp 1 
Trichopteryx ?sp. ... 1 
I hope to go again and get more speci- 
mens and species, but I am desirous to 
put others on the search of the ants’ nests 
in their neighbourhood now, because the 
process is not only more practicable than 
it will be later in the season, when the 
ants are more active, but it is probable 
the beetles are now more teutralizecl 
than they will be later in the season. 
Every one will, for his own future 
chances of success, be glad to replace 
the materials he takes from the nest, re- 
membering that it is not every nest that 
is productive of beetles. — J. W. Douglas, 
Lee ; April 3. 
To Entomologists. 
M R. J. C. STEVENS is instructed 
by the Council of the Entomo- 
logical Society of London to Sell by 
Auction, at his Great Room, 38, King 
Street, Covent Garden, on FRIDAY, 
April 16, and following day, at half-past 
12 precisely, the Collection of EXOTIC 
INSECTS of all Orders belonging to the 
Society, it having been resolved, in pur- 
suance of the Resolution passed at the 
Anniversary Meeting of the Society, held 
on the 28th of January, 1856, and ap- 
proved and confirmed at the Anniversary 
on the 25th of January last, to dispose of 
the whole Exotic Collection. In it will 
be found a vast number of' Species, of 
great rarity and interest, in Coleoptera, 
Lepidoptera, and other Orders, mostly 
in a fine state of preservation. May be 
viewed on Thursday and mornings of 
Sale, and Catalogues had of Mr. J. C. 
Stevens, 38, King Street, Covent Garden ; 
if for the country, by enclosing two 
stamps. 
/Catalogue of biutisii 
Vy COLEOPTERA. — The first 
part of a Catalogue of British Coleoptera, 
containing the Gcodephaga , IJydradc. 
phaga and Bruchelytra is now ready for 
distribution, and can be obtained on ap- 
plication to Mr. Waterhouse, of the 
British Museum. 
Price 2s. 
„ 2s. 6 d., if printed on one side 
only for labelling Cabinets. 
Printed and published by Edward Nkwman, 
Printer, of No. 0, Devonshire Street, Bishops- 
Kiite Without, London, in tho county of Mid- 
dlesex.— Saturday, April 10, ISAM. 
