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JOURNAL OF VARIATION. 
Vou. XXVIII. No.1; _ January 1ld5ru, 1916. 
Myrmecophilous Notes for 1915. 
By H. DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 
During the years 1914 and 1915 I have been unable to do much 
collecting on account of the amount of time taken up in finishing and 
‘publishing my British Ants. Such observations as I was able to make 
in 1914 are incorporated in my book, it therefore only leaves those of 
1915 to be published. 
Formicip®. 
Ponerin®: Ponera coarctata, Latr.—On June 15th, three deilated 
2 2 and seven or eight ¥ % were found when digging up a nest of 
Myrmica scabrinodis at Box Hill. They were evidently not really 
living in the Myrmica nest, as when introduced with the colony of the 
latter into an observation nest, the Myrmica 3 ¥ killed them all in a 
few days. 
Myrmicinae: Myrmecina graminicola, Latr.—I have recorded (Brit. 
Ants, foot note, p. 42): “. . . . a number of winged females have 
hatched from pup in my observation nest of Myrmecina graminicola. 
I have had this colony in my possession for over five years (see page 
81); these females must therefore have been produced from eggs laid 
in captivity! The ants in this nest have been supplied with a large 
amount of animal food during the last six months.’ On July lst 
three winged ? ? had just emerged from the pups, by July 10th over 
50 were present, and others continued to appear up to the beginning 
of August. On August 9th one g appeared. Copulation was not 
observed, but by the end of August a number of the ? @ had removed 
their own wings. On September 10th the old ¢ (recognisable by the 
fact that she was not nearly so hairy nor pubescent as the young 
detilated female) was observed to bite at the g and drive it away. On 
September 16th the g was observed flying about in a very excited 
state in the two light chambers of the nest, and on the 20th he was 
dead. 
The winged ? ? help to carry about the larve, etc., and to kill and 
cut up flies, ete. The last winged ¢ present, removed her wings on 
December 15th. The young deiilated ¢ ? behave exactly in the same 
manner as the 8 ¥; it remains to be seen if they will lay eggs. 
There is only one other case on record where queen ants have been 
reared from eggs laid in captivity. This was when Lord Avebury had 
