10 Ants in Relation to Flowers. [Sess. 



IN.— ANTS IN RELATION TO FLOWERS. 



By Mr J. G. GOODCHILD, 



H.M. Geological Survey, F.G.S., F.Z.S., 



Custodian of the Collections of Scottish Geology and 



Mineralogy in the Edinburgh Museum op Science and Art. 



{Read Dec. 17, 1902.) 



So much has been written about Ants, from the days of 

 Solomon downwards, that it is no easy matter to find much 

 to say about them that has not already been said by some 

 one else. Nevertheless, it may now and then serve a useful 

 purpose to bring together some few facts already more or less 

 well known, if their bearing upon some particular question 

 has not already been duly considered. As there is certainly 

 one aspect connected with the natural history of Ants, which 

 has not yet been presented to the public in quite as clear a 

 light as its importance seems to merit, I propose in this 

 Address to invite attention to the subject indicated by the 

 title above. 



At the outset we shall have to consider a few points re- 

 lating to the morphology of Ants in general, as well as some 

 few other matters relating to such of their habits as are com- 

 mon to the section of the Hymenoptera to which they belong. 

 So far as the former is concerned we can do this best by 

 studying the chief external characteristics of a typical form 

 with the aid of a strong magnifying-glass, or under a low- 

 power objective in a microscope. (When this Address was 

 given this was done by means of a photo-micrograph of an 

 Ant taken by Mr Adams of Dunfermline, whose kindly aid 

 in this and some allied matters I take the present oppor- 

 tunity of acknowledging.) Like all other Arthropoda, Ants 

 possess a segmented (non-vertebrate) body, furnished with 

 jointed limbs. As they are insects, the body is distinctly sep- 

 arated into fore, mid, and hind parts, and the forepart or head 

 is furnished with a single pair of antennas ; in which point 

 they agree with the Myriopoda, and differ from the Crustacea, 

 which have two pairs of antennae, and from the Arachuida, 



