ALLIES OF THE PLANT WORLD 
the plant’s blossoms for honey, as they would 
thus destroy the precious grains of pollen. 
The South American Imba-uba Tree, Ce- 
cropia, has a hollow trunk in which Bees and 
Ants dwell together amicably. The Polygo- 
nums Tree of the same continent has so many 
Ant allies that it is often entirely hollowed out 
by them. The process often operates so far that 
men break off the smaller twigs and use them 
as ready-made pipe stems. The Melastroma 
Plant of South America provides pouches on 
each leaf-stalk for the benefit of its black guar- 
dian Ants. The Tococas and Mermidones al- 
so have Ant-sacs. 
In China it is a common practice of the 
Orange-growers to encourage the visitation of 
non-vegetarian Ants by placing selected species 
on trees and connecting the trees by bamboo 
poles over which the faithful insects can rush 
their forces to particularly threatened points. 
Everyone knows of the large part the indus- 
trious Bee plays in the economy of the plant 
world. Few plants, there are, which are not 
aided in their love-making by this tiny brown 
[73] 
