3 So 



ANTS. 



chambers. Fourth, the living larvae and pupae represent an abundant 

 and highly nutrition- t'ood >npply for any insects that can elude the 

 watchfulness of the ants. Fifth, the ants, in protecting themselves 

 from larger animals, necessarily protect any small organism-^ living 

 in their not-. Sixth, the philoprogenitive instincts of the ants 

 are capable of being deceived and exploited, for these insects are so 

 fond of nursing that they are always ready to lavish their affections 

 on any organisms that resemble ant larvae. Since the dwellings of 

 termites, social wasps and bees offer many of the attraction- here 

 enumerated, it is not surprising to find that these insects, too, have their 

 nc-t-mates and parasites. These, however, are far less numerous than 

 the myrmecophiles. 



More extraordinary than the number of myrmecophiles is the diver- 

 sity of their relations to the ants. It is by no means easy to frame an 



FIG. 225. Dinarda dent at a eating mites from the surface of Lomechusa stniinosa. 



(Wasmann.) 



ethological classification of this perplexing assemblage of assassins, 

 scavengers, satellites, guests, commensals and parasites, for the same 

 species may assume different relations towards the ants in its different 

 developmental stages, or it may be sufficiently versatile to combine the 

 habits of different groups. Nevertheless, Wasmann has succeeded in 

 working out a very good classification, which is sufficiently elastic for 

 most purposes. He divides all myrmecophiles into the following four 

 groups : 



T. Inimically Persecuted Intruders, or Synechthrans. These in- 

 sect** live in the nests as scavenegers or cowardly assassins of isolated 

 ants, and are treated with marked hostility. They have to elude the 

 ants in order to get at their food, which usually consists of dead or 

 diseased ants, the brood or the refuse of the nest. 



