148 Entomological Society* 
were carried by their jaws. I sat observing them for about an hour, 
when I marked the spot and returned to camp. In the afternoon, on 
my return to it, all the stumps were again covered over. 
“ The red ant you mention as having been described by Colonel 
Sykes is, I think, familiar to me. I allude to an ant of about four 
lines long which builds a beautiful nest in trees, mostly in a mango- 
tree. The nest is composed internally of a web much resembling 
that of the earth-spider, but much closer, and infinitely stronger in 
texture. The outer portion of the nest is a thatch of leaves, brought 
together by main force, and joined one to another by the foremen- 
tioned web. I have seen nests almost as round as footballs, and 
quite as large. The mango-tree has its leaves long and oval, similar 
in shape to each segment of the casing in a tennis-ball, and the end 
of each branch bears a bunch of leaves (in a circle) to the number of 
eight or ten : however, these leaves are depressed and brought to- 
gether in an admirable manner. The web bears writing on with 
facility, and the insect in the winged state is green. The bite of the 
worker is severe ; and the scent of the formic acid, when the nest is 
interfered with, is so strong as to be almost insupportable. 
“ There is also a black ant which forms its nest in trees, in the 
Himalayas above Kimaon, but I have not studied their habits. The 
nest looks like an agglomeration of sawdust. 
“ Of locusts there are undoubtedly two species, exceedingly distinct, 
and which migrate in sw’arms, doing intense damage : — one, a pink 
underwinged kind with fuscous patches on the upper wings ; the other 
with yellow underwings, and in other respects nearly similar, except 
that instead of being tawny it is of bright yellow, and which is far 
more common than the former. Again, there are three other species 
which are not so abundant, but still do much damage. These I have 
only observed in loose flocks, and have never taken them in the larva 
state. The whole country has suffered severely from the ravages 
committed by the two first species noticed, during the greater por- 
tion of last year and the latter end of 1843. The pi)^ underwing 
species were so numerous in the terrai at the foot of the Himalayas 
near Bennourie, on the road to Almorah, that the branches of shrubs 
and trees on which they settled w^ere completely hidden by them, 
and twigs a finger thick broken down by their w^eight alone. The 
ground one brickdust red. I observed these wretches in flights ex- 
tending for miles, so thick as absolutely to obscure the sun, and 
cause some difficulty to my palanquin-bearers in getting through 
them, as at every step they rose in swarms, striking and flying 
against the men’s faces in every direction. This was in the middle 
of October in 1843. Several large flights of the yellow kind I had 
observed a month or six weeks previously at Almorah. Of the pink 
description the colour is more or less intense according to age, or 
quantity of rain they may have been exposed to. In fresh or lately 
matured insects the underwings are a very pale pink, and the outer 
ones not much darker. In old and tough specimens these latter 
organs become a dirty claret and w^ater colour, inclining to Indian 
red. Of the yellow kind I obtained the larvae in abundance at Nus- 
