MYRMECOPHILOUS NOTES FOR 1908. 17 



good instance of how what must seem a complicated mental choice — 

 for the larvae pupate readily enough amongst the evergreen Skiunnia 

 leaves — has arisen through natural selection. 



By the bye, the time given for quiescent position of P. machaon after 

 girth is spun (Tutt, Nat. Hist. Brit. Lep., vol. viii., p. 77) is shorter 

 by half a day at least, and by a whole day in most cases, from what I 

 have observed taken even in warm weather. 



Myrmecophilous Notes for 1908 (with plate). 



By H. St. J. K. DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 

 (Concluded from^sol. xx., p. 284.) 



Cynipid^. — Rhoptromeris fonnicaria, Kieff. — Professor Kieffer has 

 given this name to an insect which I took in a nest of Formica fusca, 

 in the New Forest, on June 6th, as it was new to science. 



Proctotkupid^, — Serphus gravidator, L. — When digging up a nest 

 of Formica sanyuinea at Woking, on July 15th, to obtain the winged 

 sexes, I found a specimen of this insect in the centre of the nest. I 

 may mention that the male ants were much more abundant than the 

 winged females. 



Gonatupus myrmecophilus, Kieff. — Several specimens of this species, 

 which is here recorded for the first time in Britain, were obtained in 

 company with Pezomachus antkracinus (before mentioned), and Lasius 

 niger on the sandhills at Deal, on June 21st. 



Gonatopus distinctns, Kieff. — A specimen was swept up off bracken 

 in the New Forest, in company with specimens of Formica rujibarbis 

 var. fusco-rnjibarbis, on June 8th. The colour of the Gonatopus agrees 

 well with that of the ant. It appears to have only been found at 

 Oxshott and Newquay in Britain, before. As I have pointed out 

 before, the species of Gonatopus belong to the class of (myrmecophilous) 

 insects, etc., which much resemble ants in appearance, hunt their prey 

 in company with ants, or in the neighbourhood of ants' nests, and obtain 

 protection from their resemblance to the ants, i.e., my group iii., in the 

 " Myrmecophilous spiders" {The Zoologist, 1908, p. 420). 



Soxotropa snbterranea, KieE. — This little species in the Diapriidae, 

 was also new to science, when I took it at Blackgang Chine on August 

 17th, last. It occurred with Solenopsis fugax and Lasius fiavus, at 

 the roots of Arenaria maritima. 



I have again to thank Prof. Dr. T. T. Kieffer for his kindness 

 in naming the above insects for me. 



DiPTERA. — Scatopse transversalis, L. — I captured specimens in a 

 nest of Formica rufa, in the Haye Woods, near Knowle, Warwickshire, 

 in May. It will be remembered, that I have already bred a new variety 

 of this species in numbers from my L. fuliginosus nest from Wellington 

 College. 



Limosina rujilabris, Stnh. ? — A specimen of a small fly of the genus 

 Limosina, which I took in Scotland, is queried as this species, by Mr. 

 Collin. I found it in the galleries, in a nest of Formica fusca, among 

 the ants, under a large, heavy stone, at Loch Arber, near Dumfries, on 

 April 30th, last. The ants paid no attention to it. I have bred 

 L. curtiventris, Stnh., in numbers from my L. fuligifwsus nest referred 

 to above. 



Limosina fungicola, Hal. — A specimen was taken with F. rufa, in 



