420 The Life History of Lomechusa strumosa. 
omitted from all our catalogues and books on Coleoptera. 
On May 25th, 1906, it was re-discovered by me at Woking. 
I was collecting with the Rev. F. Morice at the time, and 
we were looking for nests of Formica sanguinea, Mr. 
Morice having asked me to show him how I took beetles 
in ants’ nests. My companion found a nest under an old 
boot, which drew blank. I subsequently found two more 
nests near together, on another part of the common, and 
whilst examining one of them I met with the first specimen 
of this very fine beetle. On the 29th I went down again 
and dug up the other nest, when seven more of the beetles 
were taken. These nests were in a bank, and the ants 
had covered them with short cut grass, a type of nest very 
difficult to be found by the uninitiated. These are summer 
quarters ; in the winter the ants go deep down under the 
ground. The beetle was again found sparingly in the 
autumn. 
This year diligent search in the spring for nests was 
rewarded, a large number being found, and the beetle was 
turned up in numbers; indeed in one nest alone over 
sixty specimens were taken, plenty of material being thus 
obtained to supply other Coleopterists with examples for 
their collections, as well as for my own observations and 
experiments. Several nests were established on suitable 
private ground near at hand, where I had previously found 
both the ant and the beetle, and where they would be 
undisturbed for future observation. One nest with eight 
queens was brought home to my study and fixed up in a 
large glass vessel to act as an observation nest. J may 
mention that Lomechusa was found again this autumn, 
though not in such numbers as in the spring. The only 
other species of beetles I found in these nests were 
Dinarda dentata in plenty (a new locality for it) and 
Myrmedonia limbata. 
In conclusion I should like to express my best thanks 
to Sir Charles Dilke for his kindness and courtesy in 
allowing me to make use of his property at all times for 
the observation and study of this beetle in nature, as well 
as for a natural preserve for the ants and their nests; to 
Father Wasmann for his kind encouragement of my studies 
in Myrmecophilous Entomology ; to my friend Dr. H. Armit 
for kind assistance in dissecting and chemical experiments ; 
and to my friend Mr. Hereward Dollman for his admirable 
drawings. 
