Chap. VI] 



ANIMALS 



149 



of the more or less thin partition-walls ; the chambers themselves contain 

 air and are inhabited by ants. Fairly numerous, but very small, openings 

 allow for communication with the exterior. From them the ants rush 

 out ready to attack, as soon as the tubers are touched. I have observed 

 Myrmecodia echinata and Hydnophytum montanum growing wild in 

 different parts of Java and have always found the tubers inhabited. The 

 largest of the tubers, that I have observed, is shown reduced to one-third 

 of its size in Fig. 86, having been drawn from a specimen preserved in 

 alcohol. 



FlG. 85. Myrmecodia echinata. Tuber cut longitudinally. Below is an epiphytic fern. 

 West Tava. Natural size. 



The structure and development of the tubers of Myrmecodia and 

 Hydnophytum have been admirably described by Treub. He proved 

 that the structures, which were considered by Rumphius and other later 

 observers as a kind of ant-gall, are, with all their peculiarities, brought 

 about without any assistance from ants. As regards their function, Treub 

 expressed himself very cautiously ; yet he did not think himself warranted 

 in considering the tubers as adaptations to ants, but was rather inclined 

 to connect the utility of the chambers with aeration. Most botanists who 



