Chap. VI] 



ANIMALS 



151 



have occupied themselves with myrmecophytes, and who have in some 

 cases obtained certain proof of adaptations in them, will prefer to consider 

 Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum as myrmecophytes. A proof of this 

 view has not yet, however, been obtained. 



Phy Home-structures serving as dwelling-places for ants are even con- 

 siderably more varied than axial parts that are used for the same purpose. 

 They are in some points extremely peculiar ; yet, in all cases coming under 

 this head, the myrmecophily is highly conjectural. Even in the certainly 

 myrmecophilous acacias, only the nutritive corpuscles, and not the hollow 

 stipular thorns, may be considered as indubitable adaptations. 



Fig. 87. Capura alata. Myrmecophyte. 

 Botanic garden, Euitenzorg. Natural size. 



Fig. SS Actinodaphne sp., from Salak. Botanic garden, 

 Buitenzorcr. Natural size. 



In many plants the transformation of a leaf or a petiole into a 

 chambered structure suitable for and actually used as an ant-dwelling 

 may be shown to be associated with other factors, for example in 

 epiphytic ferns, Asclepiadaceae and Bromeliaceae, in which the chambers 

 serve for storing water or earth. 



Figs. 87 and 88 are illustrations of plants that I studied in the 

 botanic garden at Buitenzorg, in which myrmecophily might more 



