176 The Book of Bugs. 



the dog" on you." Some defend their blossoms with 

 regular clicrau.r dc frise of bristles and stickers; some 

 make their stems gummy and hairy ; some, like the snap- 

 dragon, shut up so tight that an ant cannot get in, while 

 others hang their flowers away out on such slippery and 

 shaking stalks that the ant falls off before it gets to 

 them. Some open early and close early, knowing that 

 bees rise betimes while ants are notorious slug-a-beds. 

 But that there is a determined purpose to boycott the ants 

 is evident from the fact that amphibious plants, when they 

 grow in the water where emmets cannot get to them, 

 omit the defenses they throw up when they grow on the 

 land. On the other hand, some plants, recognizing the 

 fact that ants are great for destroying worms and cater- 

 pillars, set out a kind of cheap lunch for them on the 

 under side of the leaves. The acacia even goes so far as 

 to grow hollow thorns as company houses for the ants 

 as well as furnishing them sweet syrup. But I think 

 the smartest trick of all is played by the Melampyrum 

 pratensc. It knew that the soil on an ant-hill was more 

 than usually fertile and well stirred up, so it sat with its 

 head in its hands for a long time and thought out this plan 

 of action: " Ants like honey. I'll squeeze out a little for 

 them. They think the world and all of their young ones. 

 I'll make my seeds look like their cocoons, and more than 

 that, I'll make them smell like their cocoons. They'll 

 carry 'em under ground, and when spring comes they'll 

 sprout." It worked like a charm, and you will find the 

 Melampyrum pratensc growing on ant-hills where no 

 other plant is allowed. It looks like a low-down trick to 

 play, but where there is so much competition it doesn't 

 do to be too particular. 



The oak is one of the plants that set out honey dew 

 in order to get police protection from insects that live 



