174 



NATURE SKETCHES IX TEMPERATE AMERICA 



The 



Tenants 



OF AN 



Acorn 



i*- 



I 



N nature, many incidents 

 of animal behavior escape 

 the observer, unless one's 

 eyes are kept constantly watching. One 

 day 1 was .surprised to find, on the ground under a large oak 

 tree, an acorn which was harboring a swarm of small, brown 

 ants. Unfortunately, I picked up the nut from the ground 

 before realizing what it contained. On breaking it open the 

 ants emerged from the cracks and climbed out over my fingers, 

 rushing in frantic haste to escape. On laying the nut down 

 the numerous members of this ant colony ran into the grass. 

 They went here and there, some having sufficient presence of 

 mind to pick up the suddenly exposed whitish pupje, while 

 others appeared to act in a distracted manner. In less than 

 ten minutes from the time when the nut was laid down all the 

 ants had h'ft, some escaping into underground retreats, taking 

 all the pupa* with them. 



I now found that this little emptied acorn house originally had 

 but one small hole or doorway through which the ants entered 

 and passed out. This hole was not made l)y the mechanical 

 skill of the present occupants at all, but was the work of a former 

 dweller, the larva of the acorn weevil, Balanirnis nasicus. 

 The weevil larva had lived there in the early grub state, and 

 just before its transformation into the weevil it had gnawed the 

 round hole in order to desert this place for a future habitation 

 in the ground. Following on the heels of the weevil larva, 

 another tenant of an entirely different species came into posses- 



