Sept., 191 1.] Wheeler: An Ant-Nest Coccinellid. 173 



by Silvestri" in the nests of Tapinoiiia crraticum iiigcrrinnnn near 

 Naples. The larva of the Hypcraspis feeds on the myrmecophilous 

 Tettigomctni imprcssifrons and costulata which live in the nests of 

 this ant. It remains in the pupal stage from 20-30 days, during 

 which time it is attached, together with its last larval cuticle, to 

 the lower surface of the stones covering the nests or to leaves or 

 sticks that may happen to be in the superficial chambers. The adult 

 beetle appears in June. It clings to the stones during the warm hours 

 of the day, with its feet and antennae withdrawn under the thoracic 

 and elytral borders, but when disturbed it runs about briskly. When 

 it meets an ant it stops suddenly and attaches itself to the stone. 

 The ants may endeavor to seize it by the sides of its body but seem 

 never to be successful in holding it in their jaws. The larv?e are 

 treated with indifiference. According to Silvestri, H. rcppcnsis is to 

 be regarded as a synoekete having no direct relations with its host, 

 but preying on the truly myrmecophilous Tettigoinetrcc. Evidently 

 the relations of Brachyacantha 4-punctata to its host, La^ius aphidi- 

 cola, and to the root-Coccids and root-Aphids so assiduously cherished 

 by this ant, are precisely similar.' 



The close resemblance of the Brachyacantha larvae to certain 

 Coccids, a resemblance which must be extreme during the younger 

 stages, would seem, at first sight, to be due to mimicry and to be 

 int'^i^pretable as a protection from the mandibles of the ants. It is 

 probable that this protection actually obtains, but when we stop to 

 consider that some Coccinellids, which never live in ant-nests, but 

 feed on the eggs of Coccids that live exposed on leaves and branches, 

 nevertheless have larvae very similar to those of Brachyacantha, we 

 must decline to see in the waxy tufts of the latter any special adapta- 

 tion developed for the purpose of enabling them to live in the nests 



" Contribuzioni alia Conoscenza dei Mirmecofili. I. Osservazioni su alcuni 

 Mirmecofili dei dintorni di Portici. Ann Mus. Zool. R. Univ. Napoli, N.S., I, 

 No. 13, 1903, 5 pp. 



' Since the foregoing remarks were written I have found that Donisthorpe 

 (Fourmis et leur hotes. ler Congr. Internat. d'Entomologie, Bruxelles. 1910, 

 pp. 199-208, PI. XI) has found Coccinella distincta in the mounds of Formica 

 rufa or in their vicinity in England. The beetle preys on the aphids in the 

 ant-nests. " When it is attacked by the ants it withdraws its legs and anten- 

 nae and feigns death ; at such times the mandibles of the ants cannot grasp 

 its smooth elytra." 



