THE MYRMEOOPHILOUS LADY-BIRD. 



217 



Sussex, E. : Lewes {Morris)'^'' ; Guestling Wood {Collett)^^'; Bexhill 

 (Vouisthorpe)^^; Abbots Wood {Vic. Hixt. Siinse.r)'^". 



Kent, E. : Kingsgate {T. Wood)^'^ ; Blean Woods ( IValker)^^; Whit- 

 stable {(Jhaiiipiou)^ ; Sheppy Cliffs (Walker)^ ^ ; 'Heme Bay (Dr. 

 Sha )■/>)». 



Surrey: Weybridge^i, Esheri", and Horsell^^ (^jj,-. Power); 

 Wohing {Chaiiipi())i)'^^ ; Farnham^^ ^/),._ Power), 



Essex, N. : Birdbrooki2 (/:>,-. Power). 



Berks. : Crowthorne (TF. E. Sharp), 



Hereford: L?ominster {N^ewnian)^. 



Worcester: Bewdley [Donuthorpe)^^. 



This beetle avrs first recorded as British by Edward Newman^, in 

 the Zoologist for 1847, who stated that he had taken it at Leominster 

 some years ago, and had placed it in the cabinet of the Entomological 

 Club, where it had remained unnoticed until Dr. Schaum, who was 

 then in London, had called his attention to its specific characters. 



In the same publication J. F. Stephens*^ gave a description of the 

 insect, and stated that he had been able to muster up seven examples 

 of this new British Coccinella, but he thought that he had placed two 

 or three specimens in the British Museum Collection in 1816, 



On September 7th, 1863, Dr. Sharps exhibited a specimen at the 

 Entomological Society of London, taken by himself at Heme Bay a 

 week previously. 



Champion^ ^o next records it in 1868, having swept it in woods 

 between Whitstable and Canterbury in 1866, 1867, and 1868. 



It was subsequently taken, as is shov/n in the British distribution, 

 in various other localities in Britain by other Coleopterists. 



Association wjth Ants. — It may be stated at once that C. distincta 

 is only to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of ants' nests, and 

 in this country with Formica rafa. 'The first time in literature that 

 this Lady- Bird was mentioned as act.ually being connected with ants 

 was in 1888, when C. H. Morrisi'' recorded it from near Lewes. He 

 writes : " On June iind I came across this rare beetle rather commonly 

 in a clearing of one year's growth ; it was a warm sunny day, and they 

 were to be taken in various ways, some by sweeping, others crawling 

 on the ground, or up the trunks of the trees, while many were flying 

 round the nests of F. rafa, accompanied by Clythra qnadripunctata. 

 It would be interesting to' know if this insect has been taken in a 

 similar way before ; they appeared to be very local, although not un- 

 common in this particular clearing, in the vicinity of the nests, as we 

 found about 50 specimens in the course of an hour or so." This note 

 is headed " Coccinella labilis, Muls., attached to the nests of Formica 

 rnfa." 



Champion's^*^ remarks on his capture near Whitstable are signifi- 

 cant : " They were confined within the space of a few yards, on a few plants 

 growing at the side of a narrow path ; and searching the woods for 

 miles in other directions failed to produce any more." 



With our present knowledge we know at once that there was a nest 

 of Formica rufa situated on that spot beside the path. 



CoUett^^, in 1883, found the beetle in some numbers, and he says, 

 " The locality was the wood at Guestling, where I worked the nests of 

 Formica rnfa." He, however, failed to draw the natural inference. 



