ANIMALS AS FOOD, FOES, OR FN I ENDS. 349 



secure themselves from the attacks both of browsing ani 

 inals and leaf-cutting insects 

 by encouraging the presence 

 of colonies of warlike ants 

 upon them and making pro- 

 vision for their defenders' 

 wants. A very large number 

 of species * protect themselves 

 in this way. For the ants 

 the plants provide (a) nectar, 



Fig. 392. 



Fig J93. 



Fig. 392.-P.it of a section through the cushion («•', fie;, 303I at base ol leal ol ( 'ecropia, 

 showing the velvet} hairs with which it is covered, and among them the egg-like 

 bodies, rich in proteids and fats, whi< h the ants collect and cany into their nests in the 

 interior of the stem. Magnified about mcliam. After Schimper. 



Fig J93 \pr\ ol the hollow stem of a young Cecropia. a, the thin spot above a 

 leaf, whii h al lias bei 11 gnawed through by the ants to make their nest in the cavity 

 ol the stem : 1 . the I u hion at lias,- ,.1 I, .it si'.ilk where food bodies grow. See fig. 39--. 

 Two-thirds natural size. Alter Schimper. 



similar to that secreted in the flower, i.e., a watery solution 

 of various sugars, but secreted by nectaries outside the 

 flower ; (//) fodder, in the form of hairs (fig. 392), often of 

 peculiar form, richly supplied with nutritive substances, 



More- than three thousand arc listed by Delpino. 



