THE COMMUNITY OF THE ANTS 



But the mushroom-nurseries conceal things even more remarkable 

 than ants in all stages of development. I found in them the most 

 extraordinary guests ; for example, a Rhinoceros Beetle of respectable 

 dimensions, which is always found in the nests of the Sauva, and 

 there passes through all the stages of its development. The maggot- 

 like larva is as safe from attack by the ants as the grub of the Rose- 

 beetle in the nests of our Wood-ants ; the exhalations of this creature 

 have a perfectly horrible odour. In the warm leaf-mould which 

 collects under the mushroom-beds the larvae grow in safety, and feed 

 to repletion. Certain Cockroaches too have a predilection for the 

 nests of the Sauva ; I, however, found none, but I did discover a 

 Mole-cricket, which may, of course, have got there by accident. The 

 most remarkable creature I found was a reddish-brown Carabid 

 (Fig. 27), with its larvae, which, when I sent it to the well-known 

 expert on the parasites of ants' nests, the Rev. Professor Wasmann, 

 greatly interested the worthy Father. Hereto- 

 fore no Carabid had been known to inhabit an 

 ants' nest — at all events, no Carabid of such 



dimensions (| inch in length). And this beetle, 



^** J /-I 1 Fig. 27. — TheSauvas 



which Wasmann has named Coeloxenus guest, Coeloxenus 



Guentheri, after myself, was of a quite peculiar Guentheri, showing 



species! It had long bristles on its wing-covers, the hairs which 

 , . , , T , 1 1 1 • • . J 1 exude an intoxicat- 



which, when I held the msect agamst a dark jngsap 



background, could plainly be seen as a yellow 



bloom. By these hairs the beetle betrays itself as a true myrmecaean 



guest and parasite, for they exude a sweet, intoxicating sap, which is 



greedily Ucked off by the ants, and explains why the pugnacious 



insects tolerate this stranger in their midst. 



Carabidae had never before been observed as genuine guests of 



the ants, but beetles of another family have long been known in 



this capacity. These are little beetles of the Staphylinidae family or 



Rove-beetles, whose wing-covers hide barely half the body. These 



StaphyUnidae which are found in ants' nests have also yellow hairs, 



but they bear them on the side of the body. These beetles are so 



completely assimilated to the ants that many of them can no longer 



feed themselves. Indeed, these extraordinary insects have even 



learned the ants' "language," in which they express themselves by 



different movements of their antennae. When a worker ant is about 



to hasten past one of these beetles, the latter will approach her and 



beseechingly stroke her head with its gently quivering antennae, 



when the ant immediately places her mouth to the beetle's mouth, 



307 



