THE INSECT ASSOCIATION OF A LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEX. 
53 
Hemiptera. 
Although the various species of Aphididse occurring in the association were not 
studied, their importance must not be lost sight of. The species of this important 
family are the prey of lace- wing flies, lady-bird beetles and the larvse of hover-flies. 
As many of the predatory species seem to confine their activities to one or perhaps 
a few species of Aphids (oligotrophic) , the presence and numbers of the latter are in 
great measure determinative of the abundance of the various species of their 
enemies. 
Capsidse are fairly well represented in the herbage of meadows. One species, 
Pithanus Maerkeli, rarely occurs in the fully developed form, and likewise the 
Reduviid bug, Nobis limbatus, was always micropterous. Of the Cimicidse, two 
species of Anthocoris were quite common (Table VII). 
. Cuckoo spits were abundant during the summer months, and, of the three species, 
Philsenus spumarius, which occurred in great numbers, must exact quite a heavy toll 
from its host grasses. 
Hymenoptera. 
The parasitic species of this order represent one of nature’s most efficient controls 
of injurious insects. Various species were taken in large numbers among herbage 
and, including those reared from hosts occurring in the association, there were in all 
thirty distinct species, without Chalcids. The host was not determined in each case, 
but in order to make Table. IX (q.v.) fairly complete, the works of Morley * and 
Brischke t were frequently consulted, and probable hosts suggested. The extent of 
this indebtedness has been indicated in this table. 
Other Hymenopterous species which frequent meadows and pastures are the antho- 
philous bees (Apidse), of which Andrena trimerana, Andrena fulva, and Andrena 
nitida occurred commonly on the flowers of Trifolium repens and T. pratense. 
Vespa vulgaris, whioh had its nest under the shady bracken in Glover’s Meadow, 
— where the soil was rather light — was noted as especially busy in late summer 
frequenting the foliage of potatoes in the adjacent field. Its activities seemed to be 
related in some way with the potato-infesting aphis, probably gathering the sweet 
secretion which the latter exudes on the leaves. 
The black variety of the fossorial wasp Crabro quadrimaculatus invades meadows 
from wooded areas. This species burrows in rotten wood and provisions its nest 
with gnats and other small Diptera, frequenting herbage in search of its prey. It is 
one of the most abundant species of the genus. 
Ants occurred commonly in the Alluvial Meadow in midsummer. They seemingly 
all belonged to the same genus, Myrmeca. A black ant of larger size, Lasius sp., 
was found near the boundary of meadow and wood. It was evidently the same 
* Morley, C., British Ichneumons, 4 vols., 1903-11, Plymouth. 
t Brischke, C. G. A., “ Die Ichneumoniden der Provinzen West- und Ost-Preussen,” Schr. d. Naturfors. Ges. Danzig, 
vol. iv, pt. 3, pp. 35-121 ; loc . cit., vol. iv, pt. 4, pp. 108, 210 ; loc. cit., vol. v, pt. 3, pp. 121-199. 
TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN., VOL. LII, PART I (NO. 2). S 
