344 ENTOMOLOGY 
tected by its hard and smooth covering, under which the legs 
and antenne can be withdrawn. Such an enemy is an un- 
avoidable evil from the standpoint of an ant. 
Janet has described the amusing way in which an audacious 
species of Lepismina steals food from the very mouths of ants. 
As is well known, ants are accustomed to feed one another 
from mouth to mouth. When the foragers, filled with honey 
or other food, return to the nest, they are solicited for food 
by those that have remained at home; as a forager and a beg- 
gar stand head to head, the former disgorges small drops of 
Ca 
Fic. 288. 
Lepismina stealing food from a pair of ants.—After JANET. 
food, which are seized by the latter. While a pair of ants are 
engaged in this performance (Fig. 288), and a drop of honey 
is being passed, the Lepismina rushes in, grabs the drop and 
hurries away. As-might be expected, these interlopers are 
constantly being chased by their victims from one corner of 
the nest to another. 
Parasites.— Nematode worms occupy the pharyngeal glands 
of ants; larvee of Stylops inhabit their bodies; more than thirty 
kinds of mites attach themselves to the heads or feet of ants; 
while Chalcididze and Proctotrypide parasitize ants’ eggs. 
