142 THE entomologist's record. 



At Weybridge on July 3rd, 1913, I found a nest of these two 

 species in a stump. The numbers of the two species were about equal, 

 indicating the formation of the colony bj' a young sam/idnea queen 

 having been accepted by a colony of fitsra, since normal colonies, where 

 the fiisca slaves are obtained by slave raids, contain very few fusca in 

 proportion to santjninea. That the colony was incipient was shown by 

 the small size of the smuiuinea ^ ^ and their dark colour, the smallest 

 specimens measuring 4.5mm. and the largest 5.8mm., as against the 

 normal size of 6-9mm. By the end of July all the pups I could 

 obtain had hatched out, 35 being sanguinea and 34 ftisca. This raises 

 an interesting question, and points to the probability of there being a 

 fasca queen in the nest, since the colony was so small that it was 

 unlikely a slave raid could have taken place that year, and the larvae 

 of neither species live through the winter. Unfortunately the 

 situation of the nest rendered it impossible to dig it up completely so 

 as to settle this point. Very few such colonies have been found in a 

 natural state, though many have been obtained in artificial nests. 



Forel has recently {Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg., Ivii., 1913) proposed two 

 new subgenera, Ra iitifomnca for the sanguinea group, and Servifortnica 

 for the /W.scfl group. 



2. Natural combined colony of Lasins niger and Lasiiis unibratits. 



On May 28th of this year I found a large mound-nest of these two 

 species, in about equal numbers. The ants were on perfectly friendly 

 terms, running about together and saluting each other. Close by was 

 another mound-nest belonging to the same colony. The nmbratas ^ s 

 were uniformly small, just as they have been in my captive colonies, 

 mostly smaller than the niger. The measurements were for the 

 umbratHn 3-5mna and for the niger (all of whom were large ^ s) 3-8mm. 

 to 4-Omm. In old established colonies nmhratm ^ s average 4-Omm. 

 to 4-5mm. Lasius uinbratus regularly founds its colonies by a young 

 J being accepted by a L. niger colony, L. niixtiis in a similar way 

 ■with L. alieniis, and L. fuliginosus with L. umbratns. — W. C. Crawley 

 {B.A., F.E.S.). 



8. Incipient colony of F. sangiiinea-fiisca. 



On May 1st, 1914, an incipient colony was found in a sandy bank 

 at Woking, and consisted of one queen {mnguinea), 60-80 ^ s, and 

 three fnnca slaves. The nest was not a deep one, the galleries only 

 descending to the depth of one foot. That the colony was incipient 

 was shown by the extremely small size of the ^ s, many of them being 

 smaller than the fusca slaves, with pale thoraces and dark heads. — 

 D. W. Pinkney. 



::^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



CoLiAS edusa. — I received a living 2 of Colias ednsa from Brocken- 

 hurst, on May 16th, and hope that this means another editsa-ye&v. — L. 

 W. Newman, F.E.S., Bexley, Kent. 



PoLYOMMATUs (AoRiADEs) THETIS. — During the Field Meeting of the 

 South London Entomological Society, on May 23rd, i'objuiuinutns thetis 

 was met with in some numbers in its usual haunts on the North 

 Downs, near Ranmore Common. A number of Hamearis lucina were 

 also captured, and one or two early specimens of the Burnet, Anthrucera 

 trijulii. I'vlgoiiimatus icartis was well out, and some of the $ s taken 



