Friends and Foes 307 



food as well. At the base of each pair of young 

 leaflets there is a gland, which contains a liquid some- 

 thing like honey ; and, besides this, the young leaves 

 bear what are described as 'minute golden pears,' 

 small, sweet protuberances, which ripen in succession 

 and need constant examination. These two delicacies, 

 their sole food, the ants are always ready to defend, 

 and during the wet season hundreds of them may be 

 seen running about on the young leaves, which are 

 thus kept clear of all enemies for some time after they 

 unfold. 



Many other plants (among them being many orchids 

 and passion flowers) are similarly defended in the 

 tropics of both east and west, the ants rushing out 

 and biting the finger of anyone touching them ; and 

 though they have their disadvantages, when, as in the 

 case of the trumpet-tree, they choose to keep ' cows ' 

 scale insects which suck the juices of the hollow 

 stem within which they live still, it is evident that in 

 other instances their guardianship is not only valuable, 

 but positively necessary. This was clearly proved in 

 the case of some acacias raised in a garden in St. 

 Domingo, Nicaragua, which were cut to pieces by the 

 parasol ant simply for lack of their natural defenders. 

 For St. Domingo is situated in the midst of forests, 

 and the ants which protect the acacia are never found 

 within their precincts, or, indeed, anywhere but on the 

 savannahs. 



This parasol, or leaf-cutting ant, is one of the worst 

 enemies of vegetation in tropical America, where it is 

 called the curse of the country, owing to the damage 

 which it inflicts on the crops. It may be a friend in 

 disguise to the wild crops, by preventing their too 



