To Auguste Forel   19 June 1876

Dear Sir

I hope you will allow me to suggest an observation, should any opportunity occur, on a point which has interested me for many years. Namely how do the Coleoptera which inhabit the nests of ants colonize a new nest?

Mr Wallace, in reference to the presence of such Coleoptera in Madeira, suggests that their ova may be attached to the winged female ants, & that these are occasionally blown across the ocean to the island.¹ It w^d be very interesting to discover whether the ova are adhesive, & whether the female coleoptera are guided by instinct to attach them to the female ants; or whether the larvæ pass thro an early stage, as with Sitaris or Meloe, & cling to the bodie’s of the females.² This note obviously requires no answer.

I trust that you continue your most interesting investigations on ants.³

Believe me dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

P.S I fear it w^d be too troublesome to examine a large number of the bodies of the females when swarming