202 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



day Colonel Swinhoe and Professor Dixey invited a number 

 of Fellows to their high table in Wadham, in the beautiful 

 garden of which college the party ended what must certainly 

 be considered not the least successful of the many hospitalities 

 Professor Poulton and the entomological Fellows of the University 

 of Oxford have so kindly extended to the Council and Fellows of 

 the Entomological Society of London. 



H. E-B. 



ON CARNIVOEOUS LYC.ENID LARV^. 



By E. Ernest Green, F.E.S. 

 (Government Entomologist of Ceylon.) 



In the June number of the * Entomologist,' Mr. F. P. Dodd 

 describes an interesting larva of an Australian Lycaenid {Liphyra 

 brassolis, Westw.) from nests of an ant, CEcophtjlla sinaragdina. 

 Mr. Dodd gives reasons for believing that the larvse prey upon 

 the grubs of the ants ; but has failed to rear any by providing 

 them with that food. 



That the larvae are really carnivorous seems to be proved by 

 the fact that they seized and attempted to eat some of the 

 grubs ; but they do not appear to have been satisfied with that 

 diet. Is it not possible that their proper food may be some 

 Coccid enclosed in the ant's nests ? In Ceylon, the arboreal 

 nests of this same ant almost invariably include colonies of 

 Coccidae, Aphidae, or Aleurodidae. We have here also a coccido- 

 phagous Lycaenid larva (of SjJalgis epius, Westw.). I have on 

 more than one occasion found them inside nests of another tree 

 ant, Cremastogaster dohrni, feeding upon ** mealy bugs" {Dacty- 

 lopius sp.) enclosed therein. 



The larvae of another Ceylonese Lycaenid (Apknoous loJiita, 

 Horsf. = lazularia, Moore) frequent the nests of Cremastogaster 

 on Acacia and Grevillea trees, upon the foliage of which they 

 feed. These larvae carry a dorsal honey-gland near the posterior 

 extremity of the body, and are cultivated by the ants on that 

 account. They are herded in special shelters built by the ants, 

 are driven out at night to feed, and brought back to their shelters 

 each morning. 



Peradeniya, Ceylon : June 20th, 1902. 



