22 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



not know what the association can be. The Bracon is of course 

 hovering over the ants to lay its eggs on them ; whilst the Dipteron 

 is probably only hunting for its own females. [I captured a $ of 

 the Ceratopogon under a stone on a rufa nest at Weybridge on August 

 27th, 19] 8.] The construction of this nest calls to mind a somewhat 

 similar case recorded by Forel near Munich, which was situated afc 

 the foot of two posts belonging to a balustrade bordering a thick 

 forest [Brit. Ants, 251 (1915)]. 



In an enclosure near Mark Ash, all the large trees of which had 

 been felled, a small hillock, built of large coarse materials, and 

 inhabited by very large rufa ^ ^ , was examined on the same day. 

 As all the ^ ^ of this small colony were very large indeed ; it is pro- 

 bable they had come from a very much larger nest, which had been 

 disturbed by the removal of the trees from the enclosure. 



Eggs were present (though I did not find a queen), and ^ cocoons; 

 fastened on to a number of the latter were specimens of the mite Trachy- 

 uropoda coccinea, its red colour showing up conspicuously against the 

 buff ground of the cocoon. I have frequently found this mite in nests 

 of F. rufa, but never before fastened on to the cocoons. Beckia alhina 

 was common in the nest, and a fine specimen of the beetle Euthia 

 ■plicata was captured, quite at home among the fierce ants. There is 

 little doubt that this beetle is a regular myrmecophile. Fowler 

 records it from rufa nests at Buddon Wood, in Leicestershire, and 

 Walker took it with the same ant in the Bleane Woods, Kent. It is 

 much larger than our other British species, and I suspect some of our 

 records, not with ants, really refer to E. schanmi. 



On the Continent Markel recorded it with F. rufa in Germany, 

 and Andre with F. exsecta in France ; Ganglbauer gives both species 

 as its hosts. 



At Weybridge on August 27th, September 4th and 18th, the bug 

 Pilophorus cinnainopterus occurred in some numbers, on fir trees over 

 rufa nests, in company with rufa ^ ^ attending Aphids. These 

 bugs prey on the plant-lice, and obtain protection from their super- 

 ficial resemblance to small rufa ^ ^ . On the last mentioned date 

 several specimens of Pilophorus perplexus, the ground colour of which 

 being quite black, instead of red, as in specimens taken by me before, 

 were beaten off birch trees, also in company with rufa ^ ^ and 

 Aphids. 



On August 27th, at Weybridge, I captured a larger species of bug 

 which was on a fir tree over a rufa nest. On September 4th, another 

 specimen was taken off the same tree. Mr, Butler, to whom I sent 

 specimens, tells me it is Meyacoelam beckeri Fieb., a species new to 

 Britain (see antea p. 9). Subsequent hunting at Weybridge, when all 

 fir and other trees, both near and away from rufa nests, were beaten, 

 failed to produce more. On September 20th, however, when at Ox- 

 shott, three specimens of the same bug were beaten off different fir 

 trees, in each case only over rufa nests in company with rufa ^ ^ and 

 Aphids. I was beating fir trees all day, and Mr. Ashdown, who was 

 with me, was beating all other trees for varieties of Coccinellidae, and 

 it was only on fir trees over rufa nests that these bugs occurred. It 

 would thus appear that this insect is associated with ants, much in 

 the same way as are the species of Pilophorus. 



The Myrmecophilous Lady-bird Coccinella distincta Fald., was 



