( xxxviii ) 



at Oxshott. It was always so scarce that there was no chance 

 of watching its habits. 



Mr. F. Mum said that he first saw 77. spleiidens at Mr. 

 Jacobson's house in Batavia at the time when he was making 

 observations on them. His published figures and photographs 

 of them and his description of their habits were very accurate. 

 Mr. Muir afterwards saw them in the field in Buitenzorg and 

 Pasoeroean (East Java), and in the latter part of 1915 dis- 

 covered another species (still undescribed) in Taihoku in 

 N. Formosa. Charles Banks had described similar habits in 

 a mosquito in the Philippines. * 



[Since the meeting of Feb. 6, Prof. Poulton had received 

 an answer from Mr. Farquharson to some of the questions 

 suggested by Mr. Donisthorpe : — 



Mar. 22, 1918. — " You wish to know whether the associated 

 ant-nests produce winged forms. They do. There's no doubt 

 of that whatever. I should say that it is entirely unlikely 

 that the Harpagomyias would have any effect at all, for their 

 numbers are relatively very few. I may say that of five 

 Cremastogaster nests known to me, I mean intimately, that I 

 visit regularly, all are frequented by the mosquitoes, but one 

 doesn't see more than half a dozen at a time. Besides, the 

 ants, if not omnivorous, are certainly at times carnivorous, 

 and at other times — regularly almost — frequent the glands of 

 plants, collecting nectar all day long, in addition to ' farming' 

 Coccidae of different kinds. I doubt if even the largest 

 colonies, which must contain enormous numbers of inhabitants, 

 ever experience anything like famine conditions or even 

 moderate scarcity of food. I should think there would always 

 be enough and to spare. You know how worker ants stop 

 each other and exchange a little regurgitated food, a momen- 

 tary transaction almost, both passing quickly on their way. 

 The mosquitoes do exactly the same. They will drop down- 

 wards just over an anl that is hastening along in the usual 

 way. The ant may stop and give an alms to the beggar, 

 passing on a moment or two later as if it had just met a 

 friend, and the mosquito flies up and down again till another 

 obliging ant is met. At times the selected ant simply ignores 

 the mendicant, but shows no resentment, nor does the mos- 



