MYRMECOIDISM 



121 



for its end the deception of the hosts is further 

 distinguished from other forms of myrmecoidism 

 amongst Arthropoda ; one phase of the latter 

 is merely a morphological family resemblance 

 without apparent biological significance. 



Some guests are welcome, others are hostile. 

 An example of the latter is a small beetle, 

 Myrmedonia, some species of which are myrme- 

 cophilous, whilst others are termitophilous. They 

 lie in wait in obscure corners of the nest, whence 

 they fall upon isolated ants and tear them to 

 pieces ; on the other hand, they have much 

 ado on their part to escape the vigilance of the 

 warrior ants. The myrmecophilous species of 

 Myrmedonia resemble the ants with which they 

 associate both in colour and in form ; so much 

 so that Wasmann himself has been repeatedly 

 deceived at a first glance. The object of this 

 mimicry is demonstrated by Wasmann to be 

 the optical delusion of the ants. 



Among the numerous Oriental species of 

 termitophilous Myrmedonia there is no such 

 mimicry, although the Termes soldiers are as 

 capable of defence as are the ant soldiers, but 

 with this difference, that they are completely 

 blind. In the nests of the termite genus Hodo- 

 termes, whose soldiers possess well - developed, 

 facetted eyes, no Myrmedonia has been found. 1 



1 E. Wasmann, " Die psychischen Fahigkeiten der Ameisen," 

 second edition. Published in Zoologica, Bd. xi., Heft 26. Stuttgart, 



