ci ) 



pill-box. and even in such close quarters the iiy remained for 

 a day and a half quite uninjured. 



" While watching these flies I noticed, on the surface of the 

 same nest, a small ant running about, which I recognised as 

 Formicoxenus nitidulus, Nyl., a species invariably found in the 

 nest of F. rufa. I continued to watch the nest and took 

 altogether thirty-four individuals, all of which I suspected 

 at the time would prove to be males, a view subsequently 

 confirmed by examination of the mounted specimens with a 

 strong lens. No worker of this ant was seen during the hour 

 and a half spent in watching the nest. This, I think, is very 

 significant, and leads one to believe that the apterous males 

 were in all probability seeking for the winged females, or that 

 their presence on the surface may possibly attract the females. 

 Under any circumstances, I feel convinced that their presence 

 on the nest was related to subsequent courtship and pairing." 



Mr. DoNisTHORPE said he had found the male of Ceratopogon 

 myrmecophilus, Egger, in many localities hovering over nests 

 of Formica rufa, but the female seemed to be very rare. He 

 had taken one in a rufa nest at Oxshott, bred a second in his 

 rvfa observation-nest, and a third he found in a nest of 

 F. exsecfa which he had brought up from Pavkhurst Forest, 

 Isle of Wight. Formicoxenus nitidulus was, he said, only 

 found in nests of Formica rufa and F. pratensis ; he had 

 once found the male in some numbers in, and on, a nest of 

 F. rufa at Weybridge; the day was dull and cloudy, just 

 such a day as described b}^ Wheeler when he observed the 

 copulation of this ant in Switzerland, and as soon as the sun 

 came out the ants all disappeared into the nest. Mr. 

 Donisthorpe said that no winged females were found with 

 the males at Weybridge, and he had only once taken the 

 winged female, at Bournemouth, some years ago. How this 

 species founded new colonies was not known, but he had 

 suggested that after copulation the female flew away to 

 another rvfa nest, though some would re-enter their own 

 rufa nest, which would account for the fact that a number of 

 (lealated females were usually present in the same nest. 



Mr. Crawley remarked that though no marriage flight 

 was possible in the case of species with apterous (Sd, yet an 



