Biology of the Membracidae of the Cayuga Lake Basin 399 



ATTENDANCE BY ANTS 



The attendance by ants on various species of Membracidae has often 

 been recorded. Interesting notes have been pubhshed on this subject 

 by Belt (1874), Mrs. Rice (189.3), Green (1900), Baer (1903), Buckton 

 (1903:262), Poulton (1903), Miss Branch (1913:84), and Lamborn (1914), 

 and attention has been called to the fact by many other authors. 



The mutual relationship between these two lands of insects offers 

 a most interesting field for study and opportunities for delightful and 

 fascinating observations of the insects in their natural habitat. The 

 fact that there are a large number of unsolved problems in connection 

 with this subject makes such study profitable as well as pleasurable, 

 and it is hoped that some of the questions here left vmanswered may 

 suggest to students of the family the necessity for further work. 



One of the first of these questions is suggested by the fact that some 

 of the species are attended by ants while others are unattended altho 

 there are apparently no physiological or anatomical differences to cause 

 the distinction. Another question arises from the fact that certain 

 species attended locally have never been reported as being attended 

 in other parts of the country, while on the other hand some of the species 

 that are never attended m this basin are always attended in other localities. 

 Again, certain species that the ants ignore in this basin are represented 

 by closely related species in other regions and these exotic forms — often 

 of the same genus and veiy near systematically — are well attended. 



The local species that seem to be always attended by ants are the 

 following: Thelia himaculata, Telamona ampelopsidis, Telamona unicolor, 

 Cyrtolobiis van, Atymna castaneae, Ophiderma puhescens, Vanduzea arquata, 

 Entylia hactriana, and Publilia concava. It is interesting to note that 

 this list does not include any of the species of the very common genus 

 Ceresa, altho no difference can be detected in the physiology of the forms 

 of this genus as compared with those mentioned, and the nymphs, at 

 least, appear to exude the characteristic anal fluid when disturbed. 



The very al)vmdant species Enchenopa binotaia is not attended l)y ants 

 locally and there seems to be no record in literatui'e of such attendance. 

 The nymphs of this species show the same extended anal tube as do the 

 nymphs of those species that secrete the fluid which attracts the ants, 

 and they appear in numbers sufficiently large to be easily discovered by the 

 latter if there were any occasion for this mutual relationship. Moreover 



