VARIATION. 301 



out, and I must express my regret to him for the omission. — (Prof.) T. 

 Hudson Beare, 10, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh. September 25th, 1901. 

 Notes on the Myrmecophilous habits of Cetonia aurata, L. — 

 It is not, apparently, generally known that this species, like its nearest 

 ally, C. Jloricola, Hbst., is myrmecophilous in its early stages. Having 

 reared it from the larva in my observation-nest of Formica rufa, I now 

 publish such notes as I made on the subject, and also such other records 

 as I have been able to find. On August 22nd, 1903, Professor Poulton 

 took several larvie and a perfect insect of Cetonia aurata in a nest of 

 Formica rufa, in Boldrewood enclosure in the New Forest, and sent 

 them on to me. I introduced them all into my observation-nest. 

 They were all attacked by the ants, but immediately commenced to 

 bury themselves in the nest, boring their way into the hillock. The 

 larva, which, as is well known, is like a "cockchafer " grub, only of 

 a bluer colour, appears to have a very tough skin, and, by boring into 

 the hillock, brushed oft" the ants attacking it. The beetle also was 

 much attacked, but it is too hard for the ants to injure. I noticed 

 that when attacked it always retracted the head, and was very careful 

 that the ants should not get hold of its antennte. It also went down 

 into the nest and did not appear again till March 7th, 1901, when the 

 sun shining brightly it came up for a short time. From then it came 

 up, on and oft', till July 5th, when it died. It used to climb up and 

 suck the honey placed for the ants, and also into the small tree in the 

 nest. I wrote in my notebook on March 27th " that, being much 

 attacked, it walked along with the head just under the top layer of the 

 nest, and brushed off' the ants by partly burying itself." On May 1st 

 it flew up, but fell down again, having knocked against the muslin 

 over the nest. No doubt in nature, when quite mature, the beetle 

 flies away from the nest. On March 11th I dug up four of the larvfe, 

 to see how they were getting on. They had grown considerably, and 

 all buried themselves again at once. On August 1st I dug up two 

 cocoons, and breaking one of them open found a perfect insect inside. 

 A perfect insect emerged from the second on August 1th, after I had 

 taken it away with me to the forest. I let the first go, thus returning 

 it to the place of its birth. A third beetle emerged in my nest whilst 

 I was away; it has now gone to earth again, where I suppose it will 

 remain till next year. I do not think that Cetonia aurata is always 

 myrmecophilous, as I have taken it in places far away from any ants' 

 nests, and Wasmann states it is the exception in this species. When 

 this is the case, however, the life-history is briefly as follows : — The J 

 seeks a Formica rufa nest, into which it bores its way and lays its eggs, 

 the larva feeds on the wood and vegetable refuse in the nest, and when 

 fullgrown changes to a pupa in a cocoon, which it constructs of pellets 

 of earth, vegetable refuse, etc., fastened together with its excrement ; 

 when mature, the beetle breaks its way out of the cocoon, and, leaving 

 the nest, flies away. Janson {^Ent. Ann., 1857, p. 96) records the 

 larva of C. aurata with F. rufa. In the Fnt. Mo. Ma(j., 1892, p. 288, 

 Shipp records finding two cocoons in a nest of the wood-ant, on Shot- 

 over Hill, near Oxford, and on opening one found a specimen of C. 

 aurata inside. — Horace Donisthorpe, F.E.S., 58, Kensington Mansions, 

 South Kensington, S.W. September 2,Qth, 1904. 



^^A R I A T I N. 



Notes on the imagines of Abraxas g-rossulariata bred fj 



