444 Mr. C. O. Fara Merson’s Five Years’ Observations 
ant of reasonable size (not too big) and run after it, never 
flying after the ‘“ victim.’ Contact between the fly’s 
head and the ant’s posterior end is momentary (not the 
deliberate and prolonged contact as in the case of the dead 
ants). The fly then decamps (by a short flight) in search 
of another. The ants appear to resent the attention most 
seriously, for they usually stopped dead, bent back their 
heads and abdomens till they all but met, remaining thus 
for a few seconds before running off with the abdomen 
in the air. Unless alarmed, Cremastogaster usually runs 
along with the whole body parallel with the surface on 
which it is travelling. While I repeatedly saw this happen, 
I could never actually see the fly absorb anything, so 
swift was the contact and withdrawal, but I think the flies 
may be definitely classified as Myrmecophilous. 
C. Novres oN THE LIFE-HISTORY OF MILICHIA ARGYRA- 
TOIDES, AND THE HABITS OF OTHER MILICHIDAE. 
1. Milichia argyratoides Collin, sp.n. (p. 510). 
[The pill-box in which the g and @ specimens referred 
to below were contained, bears the following: “ Ant-flies, 
Mamu. 10.ix.15.”’ A further note stated: “* From Mamu, 
a village on the edge of a large forest reserve about 20 miles 
S. from Ibadan. The village called on the map Gambari 
is practically the same.” The flies were bred out on the 
road. | 
Sept. 28, 1915.—I sent also two small Diptera in a pill- 
box. I hope they arrived safely. They also are associated 
in the Shagamu district with the Hewitsonias and the ants. 
I’ve got a few fly larvae in spirit. They appeared to live 
on a running wound on the ant-tree. They covered 
themselves with excreta, and I saw one Cremastogaster 
carrying away some of the stuff from the surface of a 
larva. More pupated, but none have emerged. It is 
extremely difficult to look after them on the road. I had 
several Hewitsonias drowned in their box one day after 
I'd carried them for several days. We met a very heavy 
rain storm. Everything got wet, including my camp bed. 
I do hope the two small flies will be enough for identification. 
April 17, 1918.—I have long wondered what the curious 
little Diptera of 1915 (Milichia) were, with their curious 
larvae. I hope to get back to the same district some day 
to get some more. I have no doubt but that they are 
genuinely Myrmecophilous, though they do not live inside 
