1902-1903-] Anis in Relation to Flowers. 1 5 



sustenance so provided for the relays of Workers represents 

 their normal food or not is one of the many points about Ants 

 that yet remain obscure. But there is reason to believe that 

 even if saccharine matters do not form the staple of their food, 

 they can thrive on them alone ; and it is quite certain that they 

 prefer them as food to any other that can be offered. Amongst 

 Ants of all kinds, and from all parts of the Earth where Ants 

 are found, this fondness for sweets is evidently their ruling 

 passion. Where saccharine matter and Ants occur in close 

 proximity, hardly anything will prevent their coming together. 

 Many of the devices by which this is brought about have long 

 been known. The well-known fondness of Ants for honey-dew 

 has, of course, led to the domestication of the Aphides by Ants. 

 Another curious and equally interesting result of the same 

 insatiable fondness for sweets has given rise to the evolution of 

 the Honey Ants, such as the Australian Camponotus inflatiis, 

 figured in Plate IV. fig. 1 of Lubbock's 'Ants, Bees, and 

 Wasps.' Other species occur both in Mexico and in Texas. 

 In the Honey Ants the abdomen is enormously distended 

 through the gradual extension of the rings of membrane be- 

 tween the chitinous abdominal segments. These individuals 

 have been undoubtedly evolved from the ordinary Workers of 

 the species in response to the requirements of the normal 

 Workers, who need " animated honey -jars " to supply them 

 with the much-desired nectar. In South America these Honey 

 Ants are collected, and are sold in the markets, on account of 

 the nectar they yield when crushed, which is made into a drink 

 of much the same nature as the old English mead. The Honey 

 Ant does not convert food of its own getting into honey, but 

 simply receives it from other Ants, who inject the nectar into 

 the mouth of the living receptacle, in whose stomach it under- 

 goes a kind of preliminary fermentation, which appears to 

 render it better suited as food for the Workers, as well as for 

 the larvae, than it would be otherwise. When fully distended 

 the abdomen of the Honey Ant is about the size of a small 

 grape. These Honey Ants have been described independently 

 by several observers, amongst the latest of whom is Dr McCook, 

 whose book is entitled ' The Honey Ants of the Garden of the 

 Gods, and the Occident Ants of the American Plains.' 



As a further illustration of the relation between Ants and 



