298 



ANTS. 



the petiole in- base of the leaf which are regularly inhabited by colonies 

 ' 1 1 small ants. 



4. Spaces Between or Under Leaves. In four species of East 

 Indian palm> belonging to the genus Korthalsia the spiny ochrea, or 

 leaf-sheath, is enlarged and boat-shaped and applied to the stem in such 

 a way as to enclose a cavity, which, according to Heim, is often ten- 

 anted by ants. Many plants with equitant or clasping leaves furnish 

 similar lodgings (Calamus amplcctois, the banana, etc.). In tropical 

 America certain epiphytic Tillandsias are very generally inhabited by 

 ants, as I have repeatedly observed in Mexico, Florida and the West 

 Indies. Sometimes a single bud-like Tillandsia will contain colonies 

 of three or four species in the spaces between its overlapping leaves. 



5. Thorns. Several 

 species of Acacia, both in 

 Africa (A. fistulosa) and 

 tropical America (A. spa- 

 die ig era, sphccroccphala, 

 hindsii), bear pairs of 

 thorns which are enor- 

 mously enlarged or inflated 

 and filled with loose tissue. 

 The ants gnaw round boles 

 near the pointed tips of the 

 thorns, remove the tissue 

 and take possession of 

 them as nests. 



6. Seed-pods. Dried 

 seed-pods of plants, after 

 the seeds have escaped or 



decayed, arc sometimes converted into ant lodgings. Professor C. H. 

 Eigenmann sent me from Cuba several colonies of Camponotus 

 iiucqiialis which he found nesting in the pods of a leguminous vine. 



7. Galls. These ma}' also be cited in this connection, though they 

 have been considered in a previous chapter (p. 208). 



A survey of these various cases shows very clearly that ants may 

 take possession of any vegetable cavity which suits their convenience, 

 and that in the great majority of cases at least, the plants show no 

 adaptations to the insects. But the plants are not limited to this letting 

 of apartments rent-free ; they are said to offer the more alluring induce- 

 ment of a free supply of food, both solid and liquid. 



i. Floral Nectaries. Like other Hymenoptera and insects in gen- 

 eral, ants are fond of visiting flowers and imbibing their nectar. The 



FIG. 169. Rootstock of fern (Lecanopteris 



carnos(i) inhabited by ants, from Central Luzon. 



From a specimen in the New York Botanical 



Garden. (Original.) 



