74 OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



domestic animals than we do ourselves. Markel satis- 

 fied himself that large nests of Formica rufa might 

 contain at least a thousand of such guests ; ' and I 

 believe that the aphides in a large nest of Lasius 

 fiavus would often be even more numerous. Andre ^ 

 gives a list of no less than 584 species of insects, 

 which are habitually found in association with ants, 

 and of which 542 are beetles. 



The association of some of these insects with ants 

 may be purely accidental and without significance. 

 In some of them no doubt the bond of union is 

 merely the selection of similar places of abode ; in 

 some few others the ants are victimized by parasites of 

 which they cannot rid themselves. There are, for 

 instance, the parasitic mites, and the small black fly, 

 belonging to the genus Phora, which lays her eggs on 

 ants, and which I have already mentioned. Then there 

 are some insects, such as the caterpillar of that beautiful 

 beetle, the rosechafer, which find a congenial place of 

 residence among the collection of bits of stick, &c., 

 with which certain species of ants make their nests. 



Another class of ant guests are those which reside 

 actually in the galleries and chambers of, and with, the 

 ants, but which the latter never touch. Of these the 

 commonest in England are a species allied to Podura, 

 for which T have proposed the name Beckia (PI. V. 



' Beit, zur Xeimtniss der itnter Ameisen lebenden IiiseMcn, 

 Miirkel, Germar's Zeit.f. Ent. 1841, p. 210. 

 • Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1874, p. 205. 



