.ENIGMATIAS BLATTOIDES, MEINERT, CAPTURED IN SCOTLAND. 277 



slightly reduced, must be considered a transition to var. hvlii/cns, Lowe. 



The four g s, already described (see commencement), which I 

 thought might belong to the same form as the ? s, are excluded from 

 this, since placing the latter as transitions to var. indii/enK. Failing to 

 find any more concise name for them, I must regard them as a transi- 

 tion to var. raecilia. 



There is still another fine ab. of the ? which has not, so far, been 

 mentioned ; in this the band on the upperside having completely dis- 

 appeared, leaves the black e^^e-spots without any rust-coloured sur- 

 roundings. These spots are double the normal size on both fore- and 

 hindwings. The underside is quite typical. I have two specimens of 

 it, one from the Grammont, and one from the Rochers de Naye. No 

 $ of this form has, as yet, come under my notice ; but I have remarl<ed 

 that among the J s, as soon as any loss of the bands occurs on the 

 upperside, a similar reduction takes place on the underside. It is 

 therefore probable that this ab. will only be found among the 5 s. 

 Up to the present it does not seem to have been noticed, so I suggest 

 the name of ab. jnnu-tata n. ab., for it. 



Aenigma*tias blattoides, Meinert, captured in Scotland. 



By HORACE DONISTHOIiPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



On July 21st 1 captured a specimen of this very rare aberrant 

 Phorid in a nest of Fuviiiica fitsca, situated under a stone near Forest 

 Lodge at Nethy Bridge, in Inverness-shire. It was observed running 

 about in the galleries of the nest, and was very rapid in its movements. 

 It is apterous and superficially very like a tiny Blatta in appearance. 

 When placed in a tube the anal segments of the insect's body were 

 observed to be rapidly exserted and retracted. On sending it to Mr. 

 J. E. Collin he returned it to me as the above species. 



Aeni;ji)iatia:-i blattoides was first taken by Meinert^ in Denmark, in a 

 nest of Foiiiiica fitsca. He took two specimens near Copenhagen, the 

 first is in the University Museum there, the other appears to have 

 been lost. Wasmann- next bred a specimen in one of his observation 

 nests of Formica rafibarbis in 1902. In 1906 he found a specimen in 

 a nest of F. ni/ibarbis under a stone in a garden at Luxemburg. Under 

 the same stone Lasius nii/er was present and it may be mentioned that 

 in the first case he had given L. ni()er cocoons to the nitibaibis. His 

 third example was found in 1905 in the same garden, this time in a 

 pure rafibarbis nest. In 1908 he observed two freshly hatched speci- 

 mens in an observation nest of F. ex&ecta, to which he had given a 

 number of F. fusca cocoons. It seems most probable that the true 

 host of the fly is F. fusca (and its sub-species F. rafibarbis), the 

 Dipteron emerging from the fusca cocoons. As the parasite is so 

 seldom found, it is most likely as Wasmann remarks, that when hatched 

 it leaves the nest and only re-enters to lay the eggs. Dahl believes 

 that the 3 of Aeni<jiuatias is Flatypiiora lubbocla', VerralF, and, however 

 this may be, it is noteworthy" that all the specimens found of the former 

 are $ $ and of the latter d" J . I have been looking for I'latij/dtora 

 for 20 years, and at last, this year, I bred two specimens in my F. 



1 Ent. Meddel., ii., pp. 212-226 (1890). 



•^ Biolog. Ceiitrul., xxviii., pp. 728-730 (1908). 



3 Linn. Soc. Journ. Zool., xiii., 260 (1878). 



