72 



ANIMALS OF LAND AND SEA 



return for which they eat their young or consume their food 

 supply. For instance the large blue of Europe at first feeds 

 upon the blossoms of the thyme, giving up honey to the ants 

 as usual; but when still quite small it leaves the plants and 



crawls down into 

 ant nests thence- 

 forth feeding on 

 the full grown ant 

 grubs. If you dis- 

 turb an ant nest 

 containing these 

 ferocious little 

 caterpillars the 

 ants make haste 

 to carry them to 

 safety, leaving 

 their own young 

 till later. A strange 

 thing about these 

 caterpillars is that 

 when they feed on 

 thyme they are 

 most enthusiastic 

 cannibals; conse- 

 quently you never 

 find but one on 

 any flower. When 

 they leave the 

 thyme they stop 

 this habit, so that 

 several may live 

 peaceably together in one ant nest. There is another blue in 

 Europe which lives at first on gentians, later in ant nests suck- 

 ing the blood of grubs. The very young of this are sociable in 

 habit and do not eat each other. A species found in Africa, 

 which has no honey gland, induces ants to feed it and lives an 



Figs. 55-58. Four sharks. 

 For explanations of the figures see p. xiii. 



