THE COLORATION PROBLEM. 33 



The wood-louse, Platyarthrus hoj)manseggi was common, but the Collem- 

 bola, Beckia albinos, was scarce. The egg-sacs of the spider Tetrilus 

 recisus were fairly abundant, fastened to bits of wood in the centre of 

 the post, and a number of Lepidopterous cocoons {(Ecophoridae) were 

 also present in the cracks in the wood among the ants. Some hatched 

 later, and Durrant tells me the moths are Endrosis lactella, Schiff. 



I believe this colony of fuliginosus was founded in a nest of 

 Acanthomyops (Chthonolasius) umbratiis ; that is to say a female 

 fuliginosus (which species occurs all round Woking) had entered a nest 

 of umhratus, had been accepted and brought up her brood, the umbratus 

 having eventually all died off. Morice tells me that umbratus does, or 

 has, occurred in his garden, he has noticed a marriage flight, and has 

 seen this ant not far from the gate-post in question. The acari T. 

 bostocki and JJ. philoctena are the normal guests of umbratus, and Berlese 

 does not record either of them with fuliginosus in his monograph on 

 the myrmecophilous Acarina [Redia, 1, 458 (1908)] . It is true 

 that I have once taken T. bostocki with fuliginosus in the Isle of Wight 

 [Ent. Bee, 26, 44 (1914)] , but I should say that colony also had an 

 umbratus origin. Wasmann [Tijds. v. Entom., 58, 158 (1915)], 

 records a case where over 100 Claviger longicornis (the normal host of 

 which is umbratus) were found in a nest of fuliginosus in which a few 

 umbratus ^ ^ were still present, and he accounts for the presence of 

 the beetle through the colony-founding habits of the ? fuliginosus. 

 For a complete account of the colony founding of this ant see Brit. 

 Ants, pp. 196-9. 



The virgin fuliginosus 2 recorded by me last year [Ent. Rec, 

 :28, 2-3 (1916)] , as being accepted by the ^ ^ in my umbratus nest is 

 alive and well to-day. By April 22nd, her gaster had commenced 

 to swell, and on May 25th she laid a few eggs. On June 9th, a 

 larger packet of eggs was present, held up, in one mass, by 

 several ^ ^ . On May 25th, two small larvfe had hatched, the eggs 

 having taken over two months to develope ! As is well known 

 parthenogenetic eggs always take longer to hatch, than do ordinary 

 ones. The eggs continued to hatch very slowly, and on November 28th, 

 :Some fifteen small larvae were present and all the eggs had disappeared. 

 To-day (January 28th) I can count ten medium sized larvae, and the 

 fuliginosus ? is surrounded by a court of umbratus ^ ^ . If I can only 

 rear these larvae, it will be very interesting to see whether they produce 

 (? (? , or ^ ^ . 



•(2'o be concluded.) 



The Coloration Problem. II. 



By W. PARKINSON CURTIS, F.E.S. 

 (ContiJiued from page 11.) 



7. Emberiza cirlus. The Girl Bunting. 



Observer. — W. P. Curtis. Time. — Afternoon. 



Date.— August 20th, 1916. Sex.— $ . 



Place, Anvil Point, Dorset. Duration. — Casual. 



Food. — Leucania pallens. The bird popped out of long grass very 

 dose to me, with the insect in its bill. I had a good view as it sat on 

 a telegraph wire close to me. The pair were feeding young, and I 



