MYRMECOPHILOUS NOTES. 15 



■species at Kew, I may mention, that there are two forms of Prenolepis 

 broiicri, Mayr., sab-species, donii^tiun-pei, Forel, to be found. The one 

 which is jet black, is very abundant in the Fern House, I captured a 

 3 there on our last visit. The other which has a good deal of red 

 about the body and legs occurs in the Palm House, though not so 

 commonly. The two forms are not found together. Since this was 

 written I have heard from Prof. Forel that the latter is 1\ riridida 

 sub sp. atalana, Forel. 



Teclnwwyrmex alhipes, Smith, is the most abundant species at Kew, 

 occurring in both the hot and also the cooler houses. We secured a 

 number of specimens of the ergatoid <? , which ForeP'^ described from 

 my previous specimens. He suggested that they may be caused by 

 the presence of parasites entertained by the 'Techno iiujnnca', in the 

 same way that Pseudogynes are caused by the presence of Lowe- 

 chusa with F. sam/tiinea. The ordinary winged <? is very common, 

 and I have recently taken a <? with short wings. This reminds us of 

 the short-winged $ s of Lasitts alienus shown by Mrazekf to be 

 infested with a nematoid worm of the genus Mermis. He called these 



2 s, mermithogynes. Wheeler;]; dissected three out of seven brachy- 

 pterous females of Lasius neoni<ier, which he had taken in a single 

 colony in Manitou, Colorado. Each was found to contain a large 

 •coiled" Merniift, 58mm. to 5omm. long. Crawley captured at Oddington, 

 near Oxford, in 1899, and again in 1900, a number of brachypterous 



5 s of L. flams, yviiiking on the road, and a few macropterous 5 s occurred 

 with them. In 1900, in the same locality, he found in a nest of L. 

 alienKs, under a stone, several short-winged $ s. He tells me in this 

 case all the winged females present were brachypterous. It is possible 

 that the short wings in my J Technowyrwex, are caused in the same 

 Avay, Avhen it may be called a " mermithaner." In the Lasius J s there 

 is nothing unusual, except in the very small size of the wings. 

 Sharp"'' mentions that queens of L. alienus have been found with 

 short wings, but refers to them as an intermediate form between the 

 females and workers. This, we now know, is not the case. 



[To he continued.) 



Experiments on Vanessa io, L. 



By T. KEUSS. 

 All the ova of Vanessa io, which I obtained in May and up to -Tune 

 3rd last {vide antea), were used for experiments undertaken for the 

 purpose of distinguishing, if possible, between " larval" and "pupal " 

 forms of the perfect insect, and of ascertaining in what degree certain 

 conditions of development, acting during the oval and larval stages, 

 influenced certain facial details of the perfect insect. I had already, in 

 the F.ntoinologist, vol. xlii., p. 311, given expression to an opinion, 

 based on the results of field-work and of temperature experiments, 

 that T'. io possessed two characteristic varieties : a " blue-spotted " 

 form with lighter ground colour and two heavy black bands across the 

 hindwing ocellus, and a " blue-banded " form with darker ground 



* Bull. Sac. Vaml., 162, 1908, p. 21. 



t Acta. Soc. Ent. Bohem., v., 4, 1908, pp. 139-146. 

 I Jour. Exper. Zool., viii., 4, 1910, p. 421. 



* Camb. Nat. Hist. I7isect.<!, ii., 1899, p. 140. 



