595.79 323 



V 



Parasites and Mess-mates in Ant-hills ^ 



THE nests of ants, by their well-chosen situation, the great 

 accommodation they offer, and the security they provide, for 

 obvious reasons attract a certain number of animals which can in 

 reality live perfectly well elsewhere. It is always necessary, in 

 order that these animals may thus live associated with the ants, that 

 they should not constitute a favourite food (PorceUio, Lucasius), or 

 that they should possess some mechanical protection {(xlomeris), or 

 offensive glands as the myriopod Blaniulus, or secret glands like the 

 hemipteron Didyonota, or that they should be able to escape the 

 ants by their small size or their agility (Thysanura). 



The warmth in the nests, even during the hibernation of the 

 colony, helps to attract a certain number of animals. It is no doubt 

 on account of the warmth thrown off by the ants that one finds in 

 Siberia, in the nests of Formica rufa, the same species of beetles as 

 in Europe. Cetonia fioricola, whose larva lives in the deeper parts 

 of the nest of Formica rufa, spins its cocoon in the upper part of 

 the dome in order to gain, during its nymph-stage, the heat which 

 is there generated by the heat of the sun. Qicedius hrcvis, which, 

 during the fine season, feeds on F. rufa or Lasius fuliginosus, but 

 which is compelled to hide itself to escape their pursuit, installs 

 itself during the winter in the middle of the mass of torpid ants. 



The vegetable nourishment to be found in ants' nests explains 

 the presence of some animals, as, for instance, that of some Isopods. 

 The woody material of which F. rufa and related races con- 

 struct their nests serves as nutriment to certain caterpillars of 

 micro-lepidoptera {Myrmecoccla ochraceella). The same applies to the 

 larvae of certain Coleoptera which live in the nests of ants, as, for 

 example, the larvae of Getouia or those of Glytra, which, utilising 

 their excretions for the manufacture of a kind of cardboard, make 

 of it protective sheaths for themselves. 



But it is the animal nourishment in particular, furnished by the 



remains of insects devoured and by the carcases of ants themselves, 



which attracts to the nests a large number of myrmecophila. 



Such is the case with many Acarids (Laclaps) and Coleoptera of the 

 ♦ 



^ Abstract of Charles Janet, ' ' Rapports des Aiiimaux Myrmecophiles avec des 

 Fourniis " (Limoges: Librairie Ducourtieux, 1897. 8vo, pp. 100). 



