THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 67 
eye, he shouted ‘Ah!’ He sat as if glued to it, and did not 
seem capable of moving from it. His son-in-law, Dr. Martin 
St. Ange, fed him with the sweet cake that had been offered 
to him with some wine as refreshment, as he sat gazing at 
the beautiful sight; but nothing could induce him to remove 
his eye from the insect, until at last a plunge it made in the 
cell carried it out of sight; and Geoffroi St. Hilaire started 
to his feet, threw up both his arms as he strode down the 
room, and shouted ‘ Magnifique !’” 
(To be continued.) 
Entomological Notes, Captures, §c. 
Ants and Imbauba Trees.—Some time ago I sent to Ger- 
many for publication a note on the relation between our 
imbauba trees (Cecropia) and the ants which inhabit their 
hollow stem. As there may be some delay in publishing, I 
will give you a short abstract. Mr. Belt has already stated 
that the ants farm scale-insects in the cells of the imbauba 
stem, and he believes that their presence must be beneficial. 
This is no doubt the case; for they protect the young leaves 
against the leaf-cutting ants (dicodoma). Now there is a 
wonderful contrivance by which, as in the case of the “ bull’s- 
horn acacia,” the attendance of the ants at the right time and 
place is secured. At the base of each petiole there is a large 
flat cushion, consisting of most densely-crowded hairs, and 
within this cushion a large number of small, white, pear-like 
or club-shaped bodies (specimens enclosed) are successively 
developed, which, when ripe, emerge at the surface of the 
cushion, like asparagus on a bed, and are then greedily 
gathered by the ants and carried away to the nest. The 
object of the dense hair-cushion appears to be (1) to secure 
to the young club-shaped bodies the moisture necessary for 
their development; and (2) to prevent the ants from gathering 
the unripe bodies. In most cases it is by honey-secreting 
glands that the protecting ants are attracted. Now Mr. Belt 
observed (‘ Nicaragua,’ p. 225) that the honey-glands on the 
calyx and young leaves of a passion-flower were less attractive 
to the ants than were the scale-insects living on the stems. 
This would most likely be the case with the imbauba; and 
