cuckoo-spit (Aphrophora spumaria) of England, which has the property of pouring out great quantities of water, so that a group of seven or eight insects will produce three or four pints of water in the course of the night. After stating that he believes the water to be produced, not from the sap of the tree, but from the atmosphere, he proceeds as follows:

"Finding a colony of these insects busily distilling on a branch of the Ricinus communis, or castor-oil plant, I denuded about twenty inches of the bark on the tree-side of the insects, and scraped away the inner bark, so as to destroy all the ascending vessels. I also cut a hole in the side of the branch, reaching to the middle, and then cut out the pith and internal vessels. The distillation was then going on at the rate of one drop in each sixty-seven seconds, or about two ounces five and a half drams in twenty-four hours. Next morning the distillation, so far from being affected by the attempt to stop the supplies, supposing they had come up through the branch from the tree, was increased to a drop every five seconds, or twelve drops per minute, making one pint in every twenty-four hours.

I then cut the branch so much that during the day it broke; but they still went on at the rate of a drop every five seconds, while another colony on a branch of the same tree gave a drop every seventeen seconds only, or at the rate of about ten ounces four and one-fifth drams in every twenty-four hours. I finally cut off the branch; but this was too much for their patience, for they immediately decamped, as insects will do from either a dead branch or a dead animal. The presence of greater moisture in the air increased the power of these distillers; the period of greatest activity was in the morning, when the air and everything else was charged with dew."

Three species of Driver Ant are known, namely, the common species, which has already been described, Anomma Burmeisteri, and a smaller species, Anomma rubella.

The two first insects are deep, shining black, and resemble each other so closely that an unpractised eye could not distinguish between them, while the last may be easily known by its brownish red hue.

The specimens which have already been mentioned are now before me, and curious beings they are. The largest are black, with a slight tinge of red, and have an enormous head, almost

equalling one-third of the entire length. It is deep and wide as well as long, as indeed is necessary for the attachment of the muscles which move the enormous jaws. These weapons are sharply curved, and when closed, they cross each other, so that when the insect has fairly fixed itself, its hold cannot be loosened unless the jaws are opened. It is useless, therefore, to kill the ant, for its head will retain its grasp in death as well as in life. Beside the sharp points of the mandibles, they are further armed with a central tooth, which is so formed that when the mandibles are quite closed, and the points crossed to the utmost, the tips of the central teeth meet and form another means of grasping.

There is no vestige of external eyes, and even the half-inch power of the microscope fails to show the slightest indication of visual organs. As, however, the horny coat of the head is sufficiently translucent to permit the articulation of the jaws to be seen through it, when a very powerful light is thrown upon the head and the eyes of the observer are well sheltered, it is possible that the insect may have some sense of sight, and at all events will be able to distinguish light from darkness.

The limbs are of a paler red than the body, and although they are slender and delicate, their grasping power is very great. Two of my specimens had grasped each other's limbs with such force that they could not be separated without damaging the insect, and it was not until the rigid joints were softened with moisture, and then with the aid of a magnifier, that I succeeded in disengaging the insects.

The smaller specimens are not so black as the larger, nor are their jaws so proportionately large, but they are still formidable insects, if not from their individual size, yet from their collective numbers and their reckless courage, which urges them to attack anything that opposes them. Fire will frighten almost any creature, but it has no terrors for the Driver Ant, which will dash at a glowing coal, fix its jaws in the burning mass, and straightway shrivel up in the heat.

IN the collection of the British Museum may be seen a very remarkable nest, which is made by some species of wasp at present unknown.

The material of which it is formed is mud, or clay, which is

worked by the insect until it has attained a wonderful tenacity and strength, and is rendered so plastic as to be worked nearly as neatly as the waxen bee-cell. It is of rather a large size, measuring about thirteen inches in length, by nine in width, and filled with combs. Unfortunately, in its passage to this country it was broken and much damaged, but the fragments were col

lected and skilfully put together by Mr. F. Smith, who has succeeded in restoring the nest to its original shape, with the exception of an aperture through which the interior of the nest may be seen.

The accident was in so far an advantage, that it gave opportunities of studying the construction of a nest which is at present

unique, and which the officers of the Museum might be chary of cutting open, particularly as its materials are so brittle. The walls of the nest are remarkably hard and solid, but extremely variable in thickness, some parts being nearly three times as strong as others. The upper portions of the nest are the thickest, the reason for which is evident on inspecting the specimen.

The nest was found in a Guianan forest, near the river Berbice, suspended to a branch, which passed through a hole in the solid wall of the nest. In the actual specimen, the branch is wanting; but in the illustration it has been restored, in order to show the manner in which the winged artificers suspended their wonderful home. As is always the case with pensile nests, the foundation is laid at the top, thus carrying out Dean Swift's suggestion for a new patent in architecture. A large quantity of clay is worked round the chosen branch, and made very strong, in order to sustain the heavy weight which will be suspended from it. This clay foundation is wonderfully hard, though very brittle, this latter quality being probably due to the long residence in a room which is always kept warm and dry by artificial means. In the open air, and in the everdamp, though hot atmosphere of tropical America, the clay would probably be much tougher, without losing the necessary hardness.

The combs are not flat, like those of an ordinary wasp-nest, but are very much curved, so that when the nest is laid open they almost follow the curve of the walls. This peculiar form of the comb is shown in the illustration. The cells are not very large, scarcely equalling the worker cells of the common burrowing wasp of England.

One of the most remarkable points in the construction of this nest is the entrance. In pensile nests, the insect usually forms the opening below, so that it may be sheltered from the wind and rain. Moreover, it is usually of small dimensions, evidently in order to prevent the inroads of parasitic insects and other foes, and to give the sentinels a small gateway to defend. But the particular Wasp which built this remarkable nest seems to have set every rule at defiance, and to have shown an entire contempt of foes and indifference to rain.

As may be seen by reference to the illustration, the entrance

is extremely long, though not wide, and extends through nearly the length of the nest, so that the edges of the combs can be seen by looking into the aperture. The edges of the entrance are rounded, so that the outer edge is wider than the inner; but it is still sufficiently wide to allow the little finger of a man's hand to be passed into the interior; while its length is so great, that forty or fifty insects might enter or leave the nest together.

THE remarkable fact has already been mentioned, that two species of Wasp will inhabit the same nest, and amicably work at the same edifice. Entomologists have long been aware that two species of Ant will dwell in the same nest, and live upon friendly terms, although the association of the working part of the community is not voluntary, but compulsory.

The Ant which employs enforced labour is called the AMAZON ANT (Polyergus rufescens), and is tolerably common on the Continent. This insect is not furnished with jaws which are capable of performing the work that usually falls to the lot of the neuters; but the same length and sharpness of the mandibles which unfit the insect for work, render it eminently capable of warfare. When, therefore, a colony of the Amazon Ants is about to establish itself, the insects form themselves into an army, and set off on a slave-hunting expedition.

There are at least two species of Ant which act as servants to the Amazon Ants, the one being named Formica fusca, and the other Formica cunicularia; and to the nests of one or other of these insects the Amazons direct their march.

As soon as they reach the nest, they penetrate into all its recesses, in spite of opposition, and search every corner for their spoil. This consists solely of the pupa which will afterwards be developed into neuters; and vast numbers of the unconscious young are carried off in the jaws of the conquerors. The rightful owners and relatives of the captured young cannot resist the enemy, as their shorter though more generally useful jaws are unable to contend with the long and sharply-pointed weapons of their foes.

After the marauding army has returned, the living spoils are carefully deposited in the nest, where they are speedily hatched into perfect insects of the worker class, and immediately take on