ANTS. ; 69 
So we find an endless variety of devices in connection 
with both the flowers themselves and the approaches to 
them from the ground, all having as their object that of 
preventing the ants (as well as some other small insects) 
from getting at the nectar. Some flowers close the corolla 
with a valve, which shuts off access to the nectary from any 
but strong-limbed insects like bees who can force the valve 
open, Other plants surround the nectary with sticky hairs 
So arranged as to permit of the visits of Jlying insects, but 
to exclude those who climb, Spines, hairs, prickles of 
every imaginable shape, have plants developed, usually with 
this sole object in view. Viscid hairs about the stem, 
tiny basins to catch and hold water across which ants dare 
not venture to swim, are among the multitudinous con- 
trivances which have been developed in response to the 
unceasing attacks of ants. Our little folk are very nervous, 
and afraid to make a jump of even an eighth of an inch. 
This fact has, so to speak, been discovered by plants and 
turned to good account. So, too, has the nervousness of 
ants in turning an ugly corner from which it seems to 
them they are likely to fall off. In recognition of that 
little weakness on the part of ants, many flowers have put 
awkward bends in the way of their persevering little 
enemies. The subject is almost endless; but one may 
summarise the facts in a few words by saying that the 
attempts to keep out ants from flowers has led to the 
gradual evolution of almost as great a number of floral 
Structures and modifications of the external form of plants 
in general as has resulted from the beneficial influence of 
bees. I am inclined, indeed, to attribute to bees on the 
one hand, and ants on the other, the chief agencies concerned 
in bringing about some of the most remarkable features in 
plant morphology with which we are acquainted. 
Ants’ claws, as remarked at the outset, consist of sharply 
“pointed forks, which, when an ant crawls over a sensitive 
part of one’s skin, are felt to penetrate a little way in as the 
“creature clings to the surface, This fact, again, has been 
turned to good defensive account by some plants. These 
Secrete a milky juice, which js very fluid when it first 
exudes, but rapidly becomes viscid on exposure to the air. 
