( :l57 ) 



\vei'e iihlo lo innke iiioi-e siiccesslul ()l)sor\;iti()iis in llic acliial li;il)il:il 

 of (lie plant. 



It was 011 the iiioniiiig of a sunny day, witli a very gentle breeze. 

 All around us we saw the light seeds floating in the wind. Whenever 

 a seed stuck to a tree at a spot, where there were ants, the latter 

 soon came running np from all sides in large numbers. The small 

 ants are not able to take hold of the seed itself. They j)ull it by 

 the hairs of the pappus. Among these hairs there are two kinds: 

 a large number of long ones which l)reak off easily, and a smaller 

 number of short ones, which are less fragile. First the long fragile 

 hairs are pulled off by the ants seizing them with their jaws and 

 pulling ill all directions. Then the seed is dragged away by a small 

 niiml)er of ants and is seen to disappear among the leaves and 

 stems of the Disc/ndias already present. If no Dischidias are near, 

 the seeds are drawn into the fissures of the bark and are then 

 carried further. Since the ants make their tunnels in the upper, as 

 well as in the lower parts of trees, the seedlings also are found 

 glowing in all sorts of places. The beautiful young seedlings of 

 D. liafjlesidim are found everywhere. At first {\\Qy grow slowly, 

 but as soon as they have become somewhat arger, long, strongly 

 heliotropic, climbing stems arise, on which but ïqw leaves are 

 developed. In this way the plant soon grows up to the higher pai-ts 

 of the tree, where, as is well known, it lives by preference. I), nuin- 

 iiiuliirid and D. colh/rls however also grow with ecpial luxuriance 

 in the shade. 



In trees which are grown over in this way, the ants prefer to 

 build their nests in between the Dischidlas. The roots of these plants 

 then spread through the walls of the passages and nests, and some- 

 times form thick networks. 



We thus arrive at the following conclusions : 



1. that the seedlings which simply germinate on the trees without 

 further intervention have a languishing existence. 



2. that the healthy seedlings are to be found in (he passages or 

 nests of a certain species of ant. 



3. that these ants drag away the seeds. 



4. that the distribution of D. RafJIesinna and nummularia (and 

 also of D. coUi/ris, in which species we have not yet, iiowever, 

 observed the dragging away of the seeds) corresponds with the 

 distribution of a species of ant. In the environs of Kediri, Semarang, 

 Djerakah, Mangkang, Kedoeng Djatfie, Tempoeran, Pekalongan and 

 Koeripaii this species is Irldomyrinea: mynnecodlae Emery. It is of 



* 11 

 Proceedings Koyal Acad. Amsterdam. Vol. XIV. 



