92 THE KNTOMOLOGIST's IlECORD. 



returning] to their larvye in the first (dampest, dark) chamber. The 

 beetle was evidently much excited, it stood raised high up on its front 

 legs, the antennje rapidly vibrating. It made little rushes and butted 

 at the returning ants, tapping them with its antennae. Soon one 

 was observed to stop in front of the beetle, and open its jaws, when 

 the beetle put its mouth close to the ant's and was seen (through a 

 lens) to be fed. All the time it kept tapping very rapidly with its 

 antennte. The process was repeated with others of the returning ^ ^ . 

 Since then I have frequently seen the beetle fed. Although nuihratiifi 

 is so unlike fiili(jinosas in appearance {imihratiis and its races being of 

 course bright yellow, and fiilii/inosiin jet black), still it has a similar 

 smell, though not nearly so pronounced, as pointed out by Dr. ]>run.-" 

 Moreover, I believe it also produces carton occasionally, which is always 

 the case with fnliiiinoHiis. In a former papei, when recording the 

 capture of M)/niied(i)iia hinneralis (a beetle whose normal hosts are 

 L. fiilifiinnsiis and /''. mfa) with L. iniibratus, P' stated, "I am inclined 

 to think the stump had originally been inhabited by the former ant 

 {L. fiiliflinosKx), as some of the inner wood showed traces of the black 

 colour caused by this ant in trees infested with it." I now believe that 

 this was caused by the uinbratKs themselves, since, this year (1912), I 

 have found several nests in the ground under heather at Weybridge, 

 with what were evidently black carton cells for the larvje, deep in the 

 nest at the roots of the heather. The carton cells constructed by 

 fiilii/inosns, have nothing to do with the trees, or stumps, they may be 

 in, since similar carton may be found in nests in the earth, or even in 

 sand, as I once found with a colony on the sand-hills at Southport'^^ 



Crawley and P'' have proved that 5 J of fiilii/inosKf: will be 

 accepted by ^ ^ of timbratiis, and the similar smell of the two species 

 may help towards this end. 



Potosia (Cctonia) cu})rea var. floricola, auct. = var. metallica, 

 Hbst. This according to Herr Eeitter, who has kindly sent me 

 specimens of the typical ciiprea, and the var. obscnra, from the con- 

 tinent (when I sent him specimens of our Scotch form), is the 

 synonymy of our ant's nest species. Several specimens hatched in 

 my observation nest of F. mfa, in September, which were introduced 

 as larvfe on June 28th, 1911. Larvte were again found in abundance 

 in a nest of F. riifa, at Nethy Bridge, in May. 



Cbjthra 4-piaictata, L. — Specimens hatched out of my rufa nest in 

 May. On April 1st I introduced larvse into a plaster nest containing 

 a small colony of rufa. The larvre came from a mfa nest on Wey- 

 bridge Heath and the mfa colony from St. George's Hill, Weybridge. 

 These larvae lived in a plaster nest, where there was no refuse, as 

 easily as in my observation nest, which contains "sand and all the pine 

 needles and usual debris of the nest. 1 gave some to Mr. Main to 

 photograph, but some are alive to-day (February 9th), over ten months 

 since they were introduced. I have written in m}^ note-book, on June 

 23rd, " Clythra larv® moving about and apparently eating at the 



26 Biol. Centralb., xxxiii., 1913, p. 27. 



27 Ent. Bee, 1911, p. 59. 



28 Ent. Rec, 1905, p. 271. 



23 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1911, pp. 664-672. 



