MYRMECOPHILOUS NOTES FOR 1921. O 



had commenced a number of Sea Gulls had arrived, and were observed 

 to catch the tiying ants high up in the air. Yet another flight was 

 observed (and also of A. {('.) jlann^) on September 5th, when very many 

 swallows collected and levied toll on the ants. 



Formica exsecta, Nyl., '^* F. fiisca, L. — Several mixed nests of 

 these two species were found by Harwood on July 15th, when he was 

 staying at Rannoch, in Scotland. He tells me there were three or four 

 in number, within a yard or so of each other, situated under stones 

 about seven inches by four inches in size. Little or no nest was visible 

 from above, and, in fact, nothing to indicate that ants were to be found 

 beneath the stones. The mixed colonies were not very strong, although 

 a fair number of ants were found ; the e.vsecta ^ ^ predominating over 

 the fiisca ^ ^ in each case. Very few mixed colonies of these ants 

 have been found before, either in Britam or on the Continent [see 

 British Ants, ^. 21d]. 



Formica sanr/iiiuea, Latr. — Colonies of the " Slave-Maker " were 

 discovered by Harwood at Brasted, Westerham, and Ightham near 

 Sevenoaks ; the first records for Kent of this species. 



Formica ftisca, L. — On the afternoon of May 22nd when at 

 Bewdley I captured a female of this ant on the wing. This appears to 

 be the earliest date on which a winged fusca $ has been found away 

 from the ne.st. 



Introduced Ants. — On January 11th I visited Kew Gardens in 

 search of ants, but found them to be far less abundant than in former 

 years. The gardeners have (in my opinion very unnecessarily) been 

 continually killing ofi' ant colonies in the hot-houses in recent years, 

 by means of poison. The ants do little, if any, harm, only attending 

 such Aphids and Coccids that may occur on the plants, and it is very 

 ridiculous to say that the ants introduce these pests into the hot- 

 houses. On the other hand they do much good by killing off other 

 noxious insects. Prenolepis donisthorpei, Forel., still occurs in the Fern 

 House, and Triijlyphotlirix striatidens, Emery, was also present. The 

 only other ant noticed was the common TechnomyrHiex alhipes, F. 

 Smith, in the Palm House, etc. 



CoLEOPTERA. 



Qiiediiis mesomeliHiis, Marsh. — On September 27th last year a 

 number of this beetle was found in the Woking A. (D.) fidii/inosus 

 nest, and again this year on October 7th more specimens, including a 

 fine (J , occurred in the same nest. I have taken it with the same ant 

 at Chiddingfold in numbers, and sparingly at Oxshott. This insect 

 shows strong leanings towards a myrmecophilous life, and as I pointed 

 out in my paper on the " Origin of the Ancestral Form of Myrme- 

 cophilous Coleoptera" [Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1909 407], we can 



* ^ This sign was invented by Wasmann in Die Zusammengesetzter Nester 

 tmd gemischten Kolonien der Ameisen, Munster (1891), to express the union of two 

 species to form a single colony. The name of this auxiliary species is always placed 

 after the sign. 



