PredcLceous Insects and their Prey. 363 



a single record* of the capture of the African wild form of 

 the species as compared with 14 of the European domes- 

 ticated race. It is interesting to observe that the Fossors 

 contribute more victims than the Diploptera. The latter 

 are doubtless more formidable and chiefly attacked by 

 specially adapted Asilids. The ants were probably all 

 winged when captured, and the numbers must here be 

 considered in relation to the limited period when the prey 

 possesses the power of flight. 



DiPTERA. — The most striking facts are the wide range 

 of selection in the Order, and the marked predominance in 

 the number of victims from the AsilidiV themselves (14 out 

 of a total of 57). This predominance goes some little way 

 to reduce the economic significance of-(4s'i/i(i?c'B as destroyers 

 of insects. 



CoLEOPTERA. — The range of selection is here also very 

 wide, but there is this in common between the victims : 

 all are conspicuous flower-haunting forms or species which 

 are freely upon the wing by day. 



Lepidoptera.— The range of selection is wide, the only 

 predominance being among the Lycmnidie and Pierinw — 

 probably the two groups of butterflies most abundant in 

 individuals. The moths — with the possible exception of 

 the single Hepialid — are probably all such as are on the 

 wing by day or fly readily when disturbed. 



Looking at the list as a whole there is, as we should 

 expect, a marked absence of purely cursorial forms and of 

 forms that hide by day. 



Asilids as the Enemies of Specially Protected 

 Insects. — This investigation into the habits of predaceous 

 insects was largely undertaken in order to ascertain the 

 enemies of the specially protected groups. The conclusion 

 had already been provisionally reached that the Asilidie 

 take an important place among these foes (Trans. Ent. 

 Soc. Lond. 1902, pp. 336-337). "The stings of the 

 Aculeates, the distasteful qualities oi Danaime and AcriBin^B 

 and of the odoriferous Layria, the hard chitinous covering 

 of Coleoptera, the aggressive powers of Odonata, are alike 

 insufticient protection against these active and voracious 

 flies." The sentence just quoted (1. c. p. 336) conveyed the 



* Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall however writes as follows (Nov., 1906): — 

 " Mr. E. S. Buttemer, of Estcourt, Natal, who kept wild bees on 

 a considerable scale, told nae that they were much preyed upon by 

 Asilidse." 



