202 THE entomologist's record. 



The genus is divided into three subgenera thus : — 



1 f Mesonotum longer than broad subg. Dolichoderus Lund. 



— ] Mesonotum at most as long as broad 2. 



2 I Scale furnished above with an angle or a spine ; pro- 



i notum nearly always bispinous, or biangular . . subg. Monads Koger. 



— V >^cale unarmed ; pronotum rarely bispinous ..subg. Hypoclinea 'Sl&yr. 



The species described above belongs to the subgenus Hypoclinea 

 Mayr. The type of Hypoclinea is Formica quadripnnctata L., which is 

 the only species of DolicJioderiis found in Europe. There are some 

 46 species of Hypoclinea known, of which 4 are Holarctic, 12 

 Neotropical, 7 Australian, 2 belong to New Guinea, and 20 to India 

 and the Malay Archipelago. 



The species of DolichoderKs possess variable habits. The European 

 D. quaciripunctatm lives in small nests under bark of trees and in dead 

 branches, generally running in company with Colobopsis truncata and 

 Leptothorax affinis. The similarity between it and the Colobopsis is 

 probably due to mimicry. It licks the surfaces of leaves on which the 

 honey-dew of Aphids has fallen, and the exudations of flowers and 

 twigs ; but according to Forel it does not attend Aphides — its habits in 

 fact being similar to those of Leptothorax. I have taken it in hollow 

 walnut branches in Switzerland, where the Colobopsis and the Lepto- 

 thorax also occurred. 



Wheeler gives a very good account of the habits of some of the 

 North American species [Bnll. Amer. Mxs. N.H., 21, 305-19 (1905)] , 

 and these do attend Aphids, as well as licking the surface of leaves, 

 etc. ; they are also very fond of insects for food. As in the European 

 species they crouch down when frightened, but if the nests are dis- 

 turbed, they attack the intruder with all their force. Their nests, 

 which are concealed beneath herbage, etc., are dug out in the sand. 



A certain number of species construct carton nests (D. attelaboides, 

 D. bidens, etc.), and in the forests of tropical America D. bispi)wsiis 

 builds voluminous nests, made of fibres, fastened together with a kind 

 of cement, which are suspended from trees. 



Notes on Pararge aegeria var. egerides in S. Devon, 1917. 



By Dr. R. C. L. PERKINS, M.A., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



In 1916, having chanced to meet the late Mr. A. E. Gibbs, and 

 finding him particularly interested at the time in the butterfly Pararge 

 aegeria var. egerides, I had for some years been struck with the 

 distinctive appearance, or one might say beauty, of some of the early 

 spring specimens. I undertook the breeding of this species, and from 

 time to time submitted specimens, both caught and bred, and notes on 

 these to him. 



When exhibiting the results of these experiments at the South 

 London Entomological Society in October, 1916, Mr. Gibbs incorporated 

 my observations in his remarks as follows : — 



" When I was in South Devon at the end of April and the beginning 

 of May freshly-emerged females were fairly common, but females appear 

 to have been less in evidence later on. The comparatively few captured 

 by Dr. Perkins in May and up to the middle of June (excepting one or 

 two, evidently virgins, freshly hatched specimens) were all kept alive 

 in cages for eggs. Large numbers of ova were laid by these from the 



