( xxiii ) 



1908. He pointed out the extreme rarity of individuals of 

 this genus in the imago state, though Oestrid larvae had 

 long been known and frequently recorded in the intestinal 

 canal of Rhinoceros hicornis, and recently Professor Sjostedt 

 had succeeded in rearing one individual from a larva, described 

 by him under the name mertiensis* The only other known 

 specimen from Africa seemed to be that reported from Gallaland 

 by Brauer under the name pavesii. 



Mr. Neave remarked that this seemed to be the first recorded 

 occasion on which the adult insect had actually been observed 

 to be following the rhinoceros, and it was of some interest in 

 this connection that both sexes were represented {2 ^ ^, 1 5)- 

 The resemblance of these insects to Hymenoptera of the genus 

 Salius, an individual of which, Scdius n. sp. near imperialis, Sm. , 

 he exhibited for comparison, was so marked that, having no 

 net with him, he had hesitated to catch the flies by hand, 

 though this was easy to do owing to their sluggish flight and 

 reluctance to leave the carcase. In conclusion Mr, Neave 

 put forward the suggestion that the presence of these parasites 

 may be an explanation of the peculiar and well-known habit 

 of the rhinoceros in invariably scattering his dung with his 

 horn. It seemed not improbable that the animal did this in 

 an instinctive attempt to kill the larvae by exposing them to 

 the sun's rays. 



Rare British Ants. — Mr. H. St. J. Donisthorpe brought 

 for exhibition examples of {a) Formica exsecta, Nyl., from 

 four nests found on April 26th last in Parkhurst Forest, 

 Isle of Wight, where Mr. E. A. Butler had taken a single ^ 

 by sweeping in 1907, and from the same locality (h) Dinarda 

 hagensi, Wasm., hitherto only observed (with the same ant) 

 in Britain at Bournemouth by the exhibitor ; also (c) Tetramo- 

 peria donisthorpei, Kieffer, n. sp., and T. feinoralis, Kieffer, 

 n. sp., taken by himself with Tetramorium caespitum, L., at 

 Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, on April 15th last; {d) Paracletes 

 cimici/ormis, taken with T. caespitum, L., at Karnes Head, 

 Cornwall, on April 19th last ; and (e) Antennoj^horiis 



* Wissenschaftliclie ergebnisse der schwedischen zoologischen expedition 

 nacli dem Kilimandjaro, dem Mem. Diptera. Oestiidae, PI. I, rig. 1, 2, 

 1908. 



