344 ENTOMOLOGY 



tected by its hard and smooth covering, under which the legs 

 and antennse can be withdrawn. Such an enemy is an un- 

 avoidable evil from the standpoint of an ant. 



Janet has described the amusing way in which an audacious 

 species of Lepismina steals food from the very mouths of ants. 

 As is well known, ants are accustomed to feed one another 

 from mouth to mouth. When the foragers, filled with honey 

 or other food, return to the nest, they are solicited for food 

 by those that have remained at home ; as a forager and a beg- 

 gar stand head to head, the former disgorges small drops of 



FIG. 288. 



Lepismina stealing food from a pair of ants. After JANET. 



food, which are seized by the latter. While a pair of ants are 

 engaged in this performance (Fig. 288), and a drop of honey 

 is being passed, the Lepismina rushes in, grabs the drop and 

 hurries away. As might be expected, these interlopers are 

 constantly being chased by their victims from one corner of 

 the nest to another. 



Parasites. Nematode worms occupy the pharyngeal glands 

 of ants ; larvae of Stylops inhabit their bodies ; more than thirty 

 kinds of mites attach themselves to the heads or feet of ants; 

 while Chalcididae and Proctotrypidse parasitize ants' eggs. 



