am unable to determine. Were the larvæ carried off to be nursed, and to add to the swarm, or were they destined to become the food of the larvæ of the nest in the freebooter community? I have several times observed that swarms had deserted their nests, but have only once witnessed any thing which would in any way account for such a proceeding."

Sometimes the Wasp dispenses with a burrow and becomes a builder, placing its nest on a beam or under a thatched roof. In this case the outer shell of the nest is much more handsome than that which surrounds the subterranean combs, being of a yellowish-brown color, and the individual flakes of which it is composed being sharply defined. They are more porous than the ordinary gray flakes of the underground nest, and are less capable of resisting moisture. Before concluding this account of the Wasp and its nest, I may mention that the character of the insect has been generally misunderstood. The popular impression is, that the Wasp derives some especial gratification from the act of stinging, is of a savage and malicious disposition, and lives wholly upon the proceeds of theft. Now, in fact, the Wasp never stings until it is compelled to do so, either by alarm or when it retaliates upon an adversary. It seldom survives the act of stinging, because the secreted point of its weapon is held in the wound, and in many cases the entire poison bag and gland are torn out of the body together with the sting itself. In defense of its home it can be fierce enough, as indeed it ought to be, and cares nothing for its own life, provided that it can only inflict a wound upon the enemy.

The reader may perhaps be surprised to hear that Wasps can be kept as easily as bees, and that, like those insects, they never injure those with whom they are familiar. Indeed, they are even less likely to sting than the hive-bees, whose olfactory nerves are so sensitive that they assault any passenger who happens to have been recently smoking, or who has used perfume of any kind. Bees usually treat me very well; but during the last summer, as I was looking at a neighboring hive, the bees began to dash past me with that peculiar menacing sound which always heralds an attack. Taking warning by the sound, I retired quietly to the farther end of the garden, but was followed even there by one pertinacious enemy, who at last made a dash at my face, and passed on, leaving its sting as a memorial of its anger. I afterward discovered that a handkerchief in my breast-coat pocket re

tained a faint scent of eau de Cologne. Now, if the assailants had been Wasps instead of bees, a by-stander would assuredly have considered the attack as a proof of the malignant nature of the Wasp.

BEFORE taking leave of the earth-burrowing hymenoptera, it will be necessary to mention two very remarkable insects which are described by Mr. Bates, in his well-known "Naturalist in the River Amazon." Neither of the insects have any popular name.

The first is called Monedula signata, and is a handsome-looking insect, very much resembling an ordinary wasp, and ornamented, like that insect, with bold black marks on the thorax and abdomen. The antennæ, however, are twisted, and at once prove that the creature is but distantly related to the true wasp. The burrows of this insect seem to be made only in the sand-banks which project above the surface of the river; so that they would not be discovered by ordinary travelers. Fortunately for the residents in that part of the country, the Monedula stores its nest with one of the most obnoxious insects that haunt the Amazon River. This is the Motuca fly (Hadaus lepidotus), an insignificant-looking creature, smaller than an ordinary house-fly, and of a bronze-black color, with the wings of an ashy brown, except a whitish spot near the tips.

This fly belongs to the well-known family of Tabanidæ, and, like them, is furnished with a very formidable apparatus, by means of which it obtains its food. Whenever the Motuca can attack a human being, it dashes at him, settles, and in a moment drives a broad, sharp-edged lancet through the skin, cutting quite a gash, and causing the blood to flow fast. Fortunately, the wound is not very painful, and it is possible that the flowing blood may be useful in washing out any poison that has been injected. It is of a sluggish nature, and can be easily taken with the fingers a very happy circumstance, inasmuch as a dozen Motuca flies may be seen clustering upon the ankle, just above the shoe.

The Monedula destroys multitudes of the Motuca flies, and will travel for half a mile in order to procure its prey, always taking care to close the entrance of its burrow, and to reopen it on its return. Mr. Bates mentions that he has been frequently indebted to the Monedula for saving him from sundry gashes from the Motuca; and that the Monedula would charge straight toward

his face or neck, pick up a Motuca as it was about to settle, and fly off with it. The fly was not captured with the jaws, but seized in the first and second pairs of feet.

The other burrower is that which is known to entomologists as Bembex ciliata, and is remarkable for the eager assiduity with which it plies its labor of love. In color it is shining green; and when it has fixed upon a suitable spot for its burrow, it scratches away the sandy soil with such furious haste, that a nearly continuous fountain of sand is thrown up behind it. Even after it has penetrated for two or three inches into the ground, the sandy stream issues from the orifice, propelled as if by a miniature engine, and being flung under the body by means of the powerful fore feet with their bristly armature.

When it has completed its tunnel, which is always driven in a slanting direction, and from two to three inches in depth, it emerges from the orifice, walks about for a time, as if to take bearings of the locality, and then darts off and is lost to sight. After a while it returns, bringing in its grasp a fly, which is destined to be the food of the young Bembex. Only one fly is placed in each tunnel, and then the entrance is carefully stopped up with sand, so that it can not be distinguished from the surrounding soil. It is a remarkable fact that, however many nests may be made in a sand-bank, and however closely they may be set, the insect which dug them never mistakes another dwelling for its own, and always flies directly to the spot which it has selected as the cradle of its posthumous offspring.

ALTHOUGH the ants have been postponed to a future page, a few words must be given to the insect whose nest will be seen on the right hand of the plate.

This insect is the Formica compressa of India. Now and then the nest of this species is above ground, and is made of mud, fastened to trees and leaves; but as in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred its home is subterranean, it will here be considered as one of the burrowers.

The section of the nest which is presented to the reader will give a very good idea of its general structure. There are generally some five or six entrances to the nest, but they are so ingeniously hidden under stones, clods of earth, and any object which can shelter them, that they would not be detected by a casual passenger. The few upper passages or galleries are extremely

irregular, often having a zigzag direction, and being of no very great length. Those at a greater depth, however, are much more regular in their structure, and when they are driven at some three or four feet from the surface, they are large in diameter, cylindrical, and extend to a considerable distance. In the nest of the British species, Formica fusca, there is a somewhat similar structure; and although the ant is so small, these tunnels are sometimes an inch in diameter, and five feet or even more in length. In these deep-set galleries, the tropical ants retire during the rainy season, and in our own country the insects may be found in them throughout the cold months of winter.

Near the surface of the ground, the reader may observe several enlargements of the galleries, forming spacious chambers. In these chambers the ants are accustomed to lay the white pupa as well as the eggs, in order that they may be warmed by the sun, without enduring the full fury of his beams. At night, if rain should come on, the vigilant workers take up their helpless charges, and convey them to hiding-places far beneath the surface. If, during the months of April or May, the nest of the Dusky Ant be opened, a very curious state of things will be disclosed. Within the chamber may be seen a vast mass of pupæ and their attendant ants; and, what is still more remarkable, specimens of certain beetles may also be found in company with the ants.

There are several species of British beetles which are never seen in any other localities, and, until their singular mode of life was discovered, were ranked among the rarest of our insects. No less than thirty-seven species of ant's-nest-beetles have already been acknowledged, besides the larvæ of three other species. One very rare species of the Staphylinidæ, or Cocktail - beetle (Atemeles emarginatus), has now become quite common, so frequently is it found in the nest of the ant which is now under consideration. The locality of this beetle was discovered by a collector, who saw an ant carrying one of the beetles into its nest. As to the beetles themselves, they seem to be quite as much at home as the ants, and when the nest is laid open, their first attempt is to escape into the farthest galleries, or to hide themselves in the nearest crevice. The ants, however, watch them carefully, run after them, seize them in their jaws, and carry them back again into the nests.

CHAPTER VIII.

BURROWING BEETLES.

The TIGER BEETLE and its Habits.—Beauty of the Insect, its Larva, and Mode of Life. Curious Form of its Burrow. -The SEXTON BEETLE and its Power of digging in the Ground. - The DOR BEETLE -its polished Surface, and the Substances in which it Burrows. Use of the Dor Beetle. The SCARABÆUS of Egypt and its wonderful Instincts.-The Egg, the Grub, and the Cocoon.-Cocoon in the British Museum. The MOLE-CRICKET, its Form and elaborate Dwelling. Its general Habits and wide Distribution.-The FIELD-CRICKET and its Tunnels. Structure of the Ovipositor. The MIGRATORY LOCUST and its Development.-The ANT-LION, its Form, Food, and Mode of Life.-The Pitfall and its Structure.-Mode of catching Prey.-Perfect Form of the Ant-lion.

WE now come to the Burrowing Beetles, of which there are no few species. As is the case with the generality of insects, the subterranean habitations which they excavate are seldom intended for their own use-at all events, after they have attained their perfect form; but are either formed by the parent while preparing a home for the young brood which it will never see, or by the larva itself while feeding, or while forming a cell in which it can lie dormant in the pupal state.

FIRST among the British coleoptera comes the lovely TIGER BEETLE (Cicindela Campestris), an insect which, though small, can challenge comparison with the most beautiful exotic specimens. It is the fiercest, handsomest, and most active of all the British coleoptera, using legs and wings with equal agility, running or flying with such speed that its form can not be clearly defined, and settling on the ground or taking to wing with equal ease. As it darts through the air, the burnished surface of the abdomen flashes in the sunbeams as if a living gem had passed by, earning for its owner the popular title of Sparkler Beetle.

This insect is, or rather has been, a mighty burrower, exhibiting, even in its larval condition, something of that fiery energy which actuates it when it has reached its perfect condition. Sandy banks are the chief resorts of the Tiger Beetle, which in this country seems seldom or never to alight upon trees, restricting itself to bare and sandy soil. It even avoids those spots which are covered with grass and herbage, cares nothing for