40 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



about on paths on the heath on each side of the railway, several had 

 been captured by /•'. ntfd and P'. samimnea ^ ^ , and were being dragged 

 as prey to the nests of the latter. A dead winged' 2 was also found in 

 a xauf/iiiiira nest. 



A marriage flight occurred at Sandown, I. of W., on August 27th, 

 J (? being observed in the garden of our house and on the pavements 

 near by, and a J was captured, which had already removed some of 

 her wings. A deiilated 5 was found fighting with some L. niijer ^ ^ 

 near a nest of the latter, a fact of considerable interest. 



A large form was found in some numbers on the sand-hills at 

 Tenby (near to the continental L. affinis, Schenck, which might almost 

 be called ajfinn-unibratntf, though most nearly related to umbratiis), 

 much digging in the sand unfortunately only produced $ « . Speci- 

 mens taken there alive and introduced into my L. vii.rtu-innbratus 

 observation nest, were all killed, whereas iimhratHs ^ ^ , from Welling- 

 ton College this year (and from Weybridge and other places last year), 

 were accepted by the inhabitants of my nest. The Wellington College 

 nest (kindly pointed out by Dr. Joy) was situated in the ground, at a 

 spot where formerly a tree root or stump had been present, this being 

 nearly entirely decayed. Cells of a hard earthy carton were found 

 attached to the roots of plants. These, through the kindness of Prof. 

 Poulton, were submitted for me to Prof. Newstead for analysis, and he 

 reported as follows : — 



" The nodular concretions attached to the roots of the plant are 

 composed of : — 



1. Numerous hyphse of a fungus, with spores, apparently. 



2. A few fine root-fibres (?) of the plant supporting the nodules. 



3. The bark of the root (rhizome) (?) of the plant supporting the 



nodules. These are much more numerous in the dark coloured 

 nodules than in the paler ones. 



4. Quartzite grains. These predominate. 



My impression is that the presence of the fungus is due to the 

 'cement' used by the ants for fastening the quartz grains, etc., 

 together." 



8ome of the root fibres and bark were, no doubt, taken from the 

 remains of the tree root or stump before mentioned. This seems to 

 prove that iiiiibratns can, and does, make " carton." Similar cells of a 

 darker nature found at the roots of heather in an imibratiis nest at 

 Weybridge also contain fungus. 



Foniiica nifci, L. — Many nests were very late this year ; at Weybridge 

 only small larvie were present on May 4th. 



Fiiniiira nifn, L. var. alpina, Santschi. — Some seven colonies of 

 this variety were observed at Rannoch in July, deiilated ? $ were 

 present (three in one nest and two in others), but no winged forms 

 could be found. Some pseudogynes occurred in one colony. 



I''(iniiira rufa, L. var. nifu-/)rate)i.iis, Forel.- — Several nests, super- 

 ficially like F. e.csecta nests, were found at Parkhurst Forest in clumps 

 of grass {Aim caespitosa) on June 29th, one deiilated J was taken, but 

 only ? cocoons were present. 



Formica pratotsis, De G. — A number of colonies were found at 



