591 

 CATERPILLARS AS ANTS' PETS. 



BY 



E. Blatter, S.J. 

 I have nothing new to write on the above subject, but I wish to 

 draw attention to the fact that Mr. H. Viehraeyer, a Continental 

 Entomologist, is making a special study of the relations existing 

 between the caterpillars of certain butterflies and the ants. The 

 beginning of a solution of many an interesting enigma in this respect 

 lias been made, but unfortunately most of these studies fail for want 

 of the necessary materials. By giving a few notes on the subject 

 I should like to interest the members of our Society in observations 

 reo-ardino- the mutual relations of the two classes of insects in order 

 that we may be able to contribute in some way towards the scientific 

 treatment of the question. In an early volume of our Journal 1 we 

 find a paper on "Butterflies and Ants" by Lionel de Niceville. 

 " That there should be any connection between butterflies and ants,'*' 

 he says, " is known to few, though as regards one family of butterflies 

 at least this relation is a very close and intimate one. As a rule, ants 

 are the most deadlv and inveterate enemies of butterflies, and ruth- 

 lessly destroy and eat them whenever they get the chance, as I have 

 frequently found to my sorrow, when in a single night a fine brood 

 of larvae has been carried off by ants from the food-plant growing in 

 tubs in my verandah, and not a single one has been left by the 

 morning. In the case, however, of the larvae and pupae of some 

 Lyccenidce, not only do the ants restrain their natural appetites by 

 not eatino- these tempting morsels, but they take the greatest care of 

 the larvae, defend them from their enemies to the best of their 

 ability, and when they are about to turn to pupae, conduct them 

 to a safe place, where they may perform their transformations, and 

 allow the newly emerged and at first helpless butterflies to escape 

 unmolested." The ants, however, are not quite so disinterested as it 

 might appear from the above description. They know well that the 

 caterpillars secrete a sweet liquid from an oval opening in the dorsal 

 line of the eleventh segment. This fluid is a much coveted and 

 favourite food for ants. Beyond the slit on the eleventh, these 

 Lyccenid larvae have on the upper side of the twelfth segment two 

 small peculiar tubes or tentacles,- which can be stretched out and 



1 Journal, B. N". H. &., Vol. Ill, p. 101. 



