AMPHISBATIS INCONGRUELLA, STN. 169 



Amphisbatis incongruella, Stn., probably myrmecophilous in the 

 larval stage, and a few notes on some other Myrmecophiles. 



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



TiNEiNA. — (Ecophoridae. — Aiiiphhbatis inconfiriieUa, Stainton, 

 Si/st. Cat., 1849, p. 15. Sp. 84 ; Zeller, Stett. Ent. ZUj., xxxi., 1870, 

 pp. 304-5 ; Meyrick, Handbook Brit. Lep., 1895, p. 638 ; Stand, and 

 Rebel, Cat., iii., 1901. Sp. 3540, p. 184 ; Spiiler, Schniet. Eur., in., 

 1910, p. 441, fig. 189; pi. 90, fig. 84. 



In the spring of 1907 I bred two little moths from a nest of 

 ForiDica exaecta which I had brought home from Bournemouth on 

 September 12th, 1906. It was suggested that they were Gelechiids, 

 and new to science {Ent. Jlec, 1907, p. 256). I eventually gave one 

 of them to Lord Walsingham, and it went with his magnificent 

 collections to the British Museum. Mr. Hartley Durrant has now kindly 

 identified it, it being necessary, however, to cut ofi" the wings and 

 make a slide of them before the specimen could be determined. 

 Mr. Durrant tells me he would assume a real connection between the 

 larva of this insect and the ants. The larva is said to feed on Calltina 

 and Erica {Ent. Ann., 1874, p. 22). The nest of Formica e.vsecta is, of 

 course, constructed of grass and ling, etc. Zeller, in a footnote {loc. 

 ■cit.), records the capture of the larva, and describes its case. It is 

 very active, and makes a small case out of either end of which it can 

 protrude. He found it by accident in summer in a sandy spot very 

 suitable for Formica cvaecta or other ants. As he could not find out 

 on what the larva lived he was unable to rear it. On May 27th last year, 

 I went to Bournemouth to meet Mr. Banks, and I took him to the spot 

 where I had obtained the 1906 nest. We found an exsccta nest almost 

 ■on the exact same spot. This I took, and have it still in a very large 

 glass bowl with sand in. The ants have all died, but in the winter 1 

 found a thin long case fastened to the muslin over the nest, I broke 

 it open but it appeared to be empty. I have just found a smaller one 

 fastened to the side of the glass. Mr. Durrant thinks these are 

 certainly the larval cases. I hope I may breed some of the moths later 

 ■on. It is very satisfactory to have the species cleared up. The case 

 would protect the larvte from the ants, and of course they feed on the 

 refuse of the nest, and would not be confined to e.vsecta nests. 

 F. Smith wrote in the Fnt. Ann., 1869, p. 72, when speaking of 

 Bournemouth : "In June I obtained all the sexes from a nest of 

 Formica conf/eren.'s : I searched in the nest of this ant for the Tinea 

 ■ochraceella, hut yfithout success; when I first discovered the nest of 

 this ant, a few years ago, I observed a number of minute moths run- 

 ning among the ants, but it did not occur to me at the time that it 

 might probably be a rarity." It is very probable that these little 

 moths were the same as mine. Mr. Durrant suggests that Kpidola, 

 with a somewhat similar case and very hard to breed, might have 

 similar associations. 



CoLEOPTERA. — Kototkecta fiavipes, Gr. — In my myrmecophilous 

 notes for 1910 I omitted to record the fact that Mr. Taylor and 1 found 

 this beetle in some numbers in a nest of Formica exsecta at Parkhurst 

 Forest, Isle of Wight, on May 15th last j'ear. Its normal host is 

 F. riifa, and it has never been recorded with exsecta before either here 

 or on the Continent. There were too many specimens in the nest for 



