120 SIB JOHN LUBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS. 
Lomechusa strumosa has been recorded from the nests of For- 
mica sanguinea , Myrmica rubra, Formica congerens, and F. rufa\ 
but Dr. "Wasmann, like V. Hagen and For el, has never found it 
except with F. sanguinea. It is fed by the ants in the same man- 
ner as Atemeles, and has very similar bundles of golden hairs on 
the abdomen, which are licked by the ants like those of Atemeles. 
While, however, the ants seem to communicate with the Atemeles 
mainly by means of the antennae, in the case of Lomechusa the 
parts of the mouth are brought more into play. He has found 
Lomecliusa in the ants’ nests up to the end of June. 
Dinar da dentata is a still more frequent inmate in the nests of 
F. sanguinea, but plays a very different part. The ants seem in- 
•different to them, and when they take any notice it is of an 
unfriendly character. Nor can this be wondered at, for according 
to M. Wasmann the principal food of the Dinardas consists of 
any ant which may chance to die, or any other weak insect 
which falls in their way. The ants seem thoroughly to distrust 
'them, and it is curious that they should be tolerated. Grimm, 
indeed, thought be had seen ants licking the Dinardas, as they 
do Atemeles and Lomechusa. Wasmann, however, considers that 
this was a mistake ; at any rate he has never seen anything of the 
kind. If an ant meets a Dinarda she either treats it with in- 
difference or threatens the beetle with her jaws, and the Dinarda 
then raises its abdomen, which appears always to drive away 
the ant. It is possible that the Dinarda has the power of pro- 
ducing an odour distressing to the ants, or perhaps they eject 
poison like the Formicas themselves. They seem always to re- 
main in the nests of the ants, and pass through their transform- 
ation in them. Formica sanguinea, like F. rufa and F. congerens, 
changes its nest periodically twice a year ; such, at least, is said 
to be the case on the continent ; I am not aware whether the 
same habit has been observed in this country. The summer 
nests are looser and opener, the winter ones lower and more 
compressed. In their migration from one nest to the other, 
which are occasionally at some distance apart, the ants are 
accompanied by the Dinardas. On one occasion, when the ants 
were flitting, Dr. Wasmann in 20 minutes captured among 
them thirteen specimens of Dinarda-, while under other circum- 
stances he never saw one outside the nest. 
Hetcerius ferrugineus, belonging to a totally different family of 
beetles, the llisteridae, and which inhabits the nests of Polyergus 
