a 
188 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. 
I know nothing of the early race of Z. filipendulae here, both species 
appearing on the wing about the same date, viz., from the end of June 
to the end of July. Z. lonicerae is locally abundant, being almost 
confined to low lying meadows, which are in part subject to winter 
floods (at the present time one of the best localities for this species is 
covered with at least a foot of water).* The food-plant here is the 
meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis) ; the larve generally spinning 
their coccoon on the stems of reeds and tall grasses edging the small 
Stream, in preference to rushes, etc., growing beside the food-plants ; 
and often wandering a long way to do so. The imago is to be found 
in July, flying in the sun or resting and feeding upon the flowers of 
the Marsh Thistle (Cnicus palustris). 
On July 4th, 1917, two 7%. lonicerae 2? having emerged from eol- 
lected cocoons, I conveyed them to the /ilipendulae locality, and had 
the satisfaction of getting both paired within a few minutes; the gs 
being attracted in large numbers, and each @ as far as I could observe 
had no difficulty in pairing with the chosen g. After a short time I 
brought the paired moths home and the ¢s laid a number of fertile 
ova, but I failed to bring the larve through the winter, no doubt due 
to keeping them indoors, instead of putting them out in the open on a 
growing plant of Lotus. 
These notes are very incomplete; I had intended to try and secure 
the reciprocal cross 2%. jfilipendulae 2? x Z. lonicerae g this season, 
1918, but the few cocoons of the former species that I was able to 
collect all produced 3's. 
SSCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
Harty anp Late MarriaGe-Fruicuts or Ants.—Formica rufa, the 
common wood-ant, 1s one of the earliest of our ants to appear and the 
last to retire into winter quarters. Sex pupe and sometimes adult @ 9 
and g g may be found in the nests during February, the temperature 
under the incubating nest-heaps keeping a uniformly high level, 
but I have never observed a marriage-flight before May until this 
spring. At Graffham, Sussex, I first noticed the ants out on their 
nests on Iebruary 17th, when I was struck with their remarkably well- 
fed appearance after the winter, and they first began to frequent their 
roads on March 12th. Exactly a month later, on April 12th, the first 
marriage-flight took place. It was an exceptionally fine day, and 
innumerable ? ? and J g were flying and walking about on the roads. 
Copulation was not observed. Another flight occurred on April 24th, 
in the same place, and another on the 22nd, about a mile away. It 
would be interesting to know whether earlier flights than this have 
been recorded. 
On the other hand some late flights were seen in this locality. One 
of Lasius umbratus, on October 28rd, near Petworth, was exceptionally 
late, and still later, on the 25th, I picked up a partially deilated 2 of 
Lasius fuliginosus. This species usually flies in May, and this indi- 
vidual had probably remained in the nest all the summer. At the date — 
of finding her the colonies of this species in the neighbourhood had 
already disappeared for the winter. 
* Perhaps some of the contributors to the Entomologist’s Record could offer an — 
explanation as to how the species continues to exist under such conditions. 
