THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 67 



eye, he shouted 'Ah !' He sat as if glued to it, and did not 

 seem capable of moving from it. His son-in-law, Dr. Martin 

 St. Ange, fed him with the sweet cake that had been offered 

 to him with some wine as refreshment, as he sat gazing at 

 the beautiful sight; but nothing could induce him to remove 

 his eye from the insect, until at last a plunge it made in the 

 cell carried it out of sight; and Geoffroi St. Hilaire started 

 to his feet, threw up both his arms as he strode down the 

 room, and shouted ^ Magnijique I""" 



(To be contimied.) 



Entomological Notes, Captures, 8fc. 



Ants and Imbauha Trees. — Some time ago I sent to Ger- 

 many for publication a note on the relation between our 

 imbauba trees (Cecro]iia) and the ants which inhabit their 

 hollow stem. As there may be some delay in publishing, I 

 will give you a short abstract. Mr. Belt has already stated 

 that the ants farm scale-insects in the cells of the imbauba 

 stem, and he believes that their presence must be beneficial. 

 This is no doubt the case ; for they protect the young leaves 

 against the leaf-cutting ants (fficodoma). Now there is a 

 wonderful contrivance by which, as in the case of the " buU's- 

 horn acacia," the attendance of the ants at the right time and 

 place is secured. At the base of each petiole there is a large 

 flat cushion, consisting of most densely-crowded hairs, and 

 within this cushion a large number of small, white, pear-like 

 or club-shaped bodies (specimens enclosed) are successively 

 developed, which, when ripe, emerge at the surface of the 

 cushion, like asparagus on a bed, and are then greedily 

 gathered by the ants and carried away to the nest. The 

 object of the dense hair-cushion appears to be (I) to secure 

 to the young club-shaped bodies the moisture necessary for 

 their development; and (2) to prevent the ants from gathering 

 the unripe bodies. In most cases it is by honey-secreting 

 glands that the protecting ants are attracted. Now Mr. Belt 

 observed (' Nicaragua,' p. 225) that the honey-glands on the 

 calyx and young leaves of a passion-flower were less attractive 

 to the ants than were the scale-insects living on the stems. 

 This would most likely be the case with the imbauba; and 



