24 the entomologist's record. 



this purpose I had prepared a very large tray covered with sand with 

 a broad moat of water all round. On it were young oak, birch, and 

 fir trees growing in pots and I had established a nice colony of For- 

 mica rufa upon it, whose hillock was built up in one corner of the 

 tray. Unfortunately the experiment proved to be a failure ; as the 

 bugs and their larvae, of which I brought home numbers, and put on 

 the young trees, always got into the water, and were drowned. 



Alydus calcaratas, L. — Larvse were seen running in company with 

 F. rufa § $ at Weybridge on August 11th. 



Nabis lativentris, Boh. — At Porthcothan Bay, N. Cornwall, on July 

 9th, one larva of this bug was swept up in company with £ £ of F. 

 fusca var. glebaria and A. (D.) niger, and another was taken running 

 over a niger nest. It is not generally known that the younger forms 

 of this bug possess spines on the pro- and meso-thorax, and also on 

 the front femora ; these spines are entirely lost in the adult stage, and 

 those on the femora are replaced by fine hairs. It is the only one in 

 the genus possessing these peculiarities, which are no doubt connected 

 with its ant-like form. My friend Mr. Ernest Green sent two of the 

 spiny form to the Museum in June, which created quite a flutter at 

 the time. When they were shown to me, I expressed a view that they 

 were larva? of Nabis lativentris, but was told that one could not expect 

 any young form with spines to lose them entirely when adult, etc., 

 etc. I produced similar forms from my cabinet taken with ants, but 

 it was suggested they were a new species to Britain. The larval form 

 figured by Dr. Sharp [Cambridge Nat. Hist. 6 556 (1899)] who first 

 called attention to the resemblance to ants, is older and does not 

 possess the spines. Other specimens in my collection are also without 

 them. However, "blessed is he that expecteth little," especially when 

 dealing with ants and myrmecophiles, and the various specimens being 

 submitted to Mr. E. A. Butler, he identified them all as early stages 

 of N. lativentris. I swept up a form without spines, and with yellow, 

 instead of white, margins to the abdomen, in company with Myrmica 

 scabrinodis £ $ and dealated 2 2 by the side of a marsh near Chi- 

 chester on August 17th. Other specimens swept up in the marsh 

 itself, had bright red abdominal borders. 



Coccidae. 



Ripersia europea, New. — Numerous specimens of a Coccid which I 

 felt sure was a species I had not taken before, were found in a nest of 

 A. (D.) niger at Stepper Point, N. Cornwall on July 8th, in company 

 with the Aphis Trama radicis, Kalt. 



Professor Newstead, who kindly named them for me, told me that 

 they were old adult 2 2 full of embryos. He says it is closely related 

 to Ripersia tomlini, but is distinguished from old adults of the latter 

 by its smaller size, the large number of gland pores, and the presence 

 of a chihinous scoop-shaped structure of the anal ring. As far as I am 

 aware the insect has only been captured once before in Britain — 

 at Swanage. 



Araneina. 



Tetrilus diversus, Camb. — Egg cases of this spider occurred on the 

 carton itself of the Woking fuliginosus nest, and very young, recently 

 hatched spiders were running about on the carton on September 27th 



