and Ancestral Form of MyrmecopMlous Golcoptera. 403 



ants." These two species, in common with the other 

 Myrmedonias, feed on ants. Mons. L, Mesmin records that 

 a specimen of coUaris he put into a bottle with two ants, 

 immediately seized and killed one of them (E. M. M., viii, 

 1876, p. 64). Wasmann writes — " The species of the Genus 

 Zyras (haworthi, Steph., and coUaris, Pk.) are indeed like 

 Ifynnofcia, Myrmcdonia and Astilbus, ant-eaters, and live 

 in preference in the neighbourhood of ants. As regular 

 myrmecophiles they are, however, not to be covmted. The 

 same of Myrmcdonia limhata." I took 31. coUaris and its 

 larvae in some numbers in a nest of Myrmica lacvinodis 

 in Wicken Fen. The nest was in a heap of cut sedge, 

 and contained $^, many ^^, larvae and pupae, and the 

 beetles and their larvae were in the nest among the ants. 



This species is often found in moss and sphagnum, but 

 ants often occur in such places, and as the beetles feed on 

 ants they require to be near their nests. We can see 

 how these two beetles, feeding on ants, and living in the 

 neighbourhood of ants' nests, might become more regular 

 inhabitants of the nests like the other Myrmcdonias, some 

 of which, M. humercdis for example, is often found in the 

 runs and outside the nests. 



Myrmedonia liTnbata, Pk. 



" In nests of Formica fiava and fusca, and has also been 

 recorded as associated with F. fuliginosa ; also found 

 under stones, in moss, etc., near the nests" (Fowler, /. c. 

 p. 56). 



It has been taken with Lasius f^diginosus at Chobham 

 (Saunders) ; Guestling (Collett) ; Croydon (Shepherd) ; 

 Wellington College (Joy) ; with Lasius flavus at Dover 

 (Morley) ; Guestling (Collett) ; Chattenden and Oxford 

 district (Walker) ; Northumberland (Bold) ; Scotland, 

 Tweed (Sharp); with Formica fusca in Kent (Shepherd); 

 in ants' nest in moss, Lundy Island (Joy); in ants' nests, 

 Isle of Man (Bailey). 



I have taken it with Formica sanguinca at Woking, 

 with Lasius fuliginosus in plenty at Wellington College, 

 with Myrmica scahrinodis at Doddington, Kent, and Bem- 

 bridge, Isle of Wight, and in nest oi a, Myrmica at Cannock 

 Chase. I found in my experin)ents with this species it was 

 not able to defend itself against the ants as perfectly as 

 the more regular nest-frequenting Myrmcdonias do. We 



