been issued by the New South Wales Department of Agri- 
~ about their dwellings. Copies may be obtained free on 
-mound-forming ants (Jridomyrmex sanguinus) dragging 
which weighed .088-gram., or just 193 times its own 
100 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST, — 
about these would have been welcome. No indication is_ 
‘given as to where the type specimens are preserved. This 
is a matter of importance to naturalists, and should always 
be clearly stated.—Ed. 
Sueep Maacor Fuies.—A very important bulletin 
_ (Farmer’s Bulletin, No. 122) on the above, prepared by Mr. 
W. W. Froggatt, F.L.S., and Mr. J. L. Froggatt, B.Se., has 
culture. In this publication the Messrs. Froggatt give in 
a concise and clear form the practical results of their ex- 
periments and observations on the destruction of the Sheep- 
maggot Fly, a detestable insect that has been the cause of 
the loss of enormous sums of money to our sheep-breeders, 
to say nothing of the terrible suffering inflicted on the 
unfortunate sheep. The directions given for the construc- — 
tion and working of cheap and effective traps, and for other 
- practical methods of destroying the pests, are admirably a 
clear, and with this bulletin before him no intelligent sheep- P 
breeder will have the slightest hesitation or difficulty in 
applying the methods prescribed. We strongly commend 
the publication, not only to sheep-breeders, but to house- — 
holders generally, who are troubled with blowflies coming 
application to the Under Secretary, Department of Agri- 
culture, Sydney.—Ed. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
 Srrenctu or Ants.—In the Aust. Nat., Vol. ii., p. 
177, I give an account of the relative weights of ants (Cam- 
ponotus forcipes), and of the loads which they were drag- 
ging. Recently at Pennant Hills I noticed one of the 
a fish-bone along a smooth brick footpath. It was as much : 
as the ant could do, moving backwards, to drag the bone of 
along. The bone was of such a shape as to present the é 
least resistance, as it had a couple of sharp edges, which 
acted like skates, while the ant was able to get a firm grip 
its jaws. The weight of the ant was .0045, and of the 
bone .2414 gram., so the load was just 54 times the weight 
of the ant. I also saw another ant of same species and 
weight running along quite rapidly, dragging a dead bee, 
weight. ~THos, STEEL. 
