210 BRITISH ANTS. 



by another. In March, 1904, he found two dealated nigra females 

 in a closed cell under a stone, and he established them in a small 

 plaster nest with honey, which they drank. On April 1 1th eggs were 

 laid, and by the beginning of June pupae were present which started 

 to hatch at the end of July, and when there were about thirty 

 workers the females no longer attended to the brood. On returning 

 after an absence from home, he found one female dead and cut in 

 pieces 48 . 



On July 20th, 1911, Crawley picked up some dealated nigra 

 females after a marriage flight at Sea View, and placed three of 

 them in a small box with earth, when they jointly excavated a 

 cell in the earth and built up a roof covering them completely in. 

 Ten days later the cell was opened and found to contain a quantity 

 of eggs. The three females were then introduced into a four- 

 chambered " Janet " nest with a large number of pupae, when one 

 female immediately began to carry the pupae into a dark chamber, 

 and though assisted for a short time by another female, carried 

 over one hundred herself. Next day each female occupied a cham- 

 ber to herself with pupae, the energetic female having by far the 

 largest number. On August 2nd one of the other two females was 

 found dead in the same chamber with the energetic one by this 

 date about one hundred and fifty workers were present, and the 

 females had laid eggs and ceased to work. On August 4th some 

 workers attacked and killed the other female, the energetic one 

 being left as the sole queen of the colony 62 . 



In another experiment carried out by Crawley in the same year 

 with three more nigra females, similar results were obtained. After 

 workers had been reared, one of the females killed another and was 

 eventually herself killed by the third, which was left in possession 

 of a thriving colony 62 . 



The gaster of a fertile nigra female becomes distended with eggs, 

 though not to such an extent as in fuliginosa ; the gaster of a 

 female of the former, which I found in a large colony under a 

 stone at Box Hill on July 30th, 1913 63 whose total length is 

 eleven mm. measures seven mm. in length, and four mm. in 

 breadth. 



The following species of Myrmecophiles have been taken with 

 Donisthorpea nigra in Britain : 



Coleoptera : Homoeusa acuminata Mark., Myrmedonia limbata 

 Pk., Drusilla canaliculata F., Claviger testaceus Preys., C. longicornis 

 MiilL, and Opatrum sabulosum L. 



Formicidae : P oner a coarctata Latr., Myrmecina graminicola 

 Latr., and Solenopsis fugax Latr. 



Ichneumonidae : Pezomachus anthracinus Forst. 



Braconidae : Pachylomma buccata Nees. 



Proctotrupidae : Gonatopus myrmecophilus K., Planopria pedes- 

 tris K., and Loxotropa subterranea K. 



