186 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



Ponerine tribe, and it is of a ferocious nature with a 

 cruel sting. 



An immense deal of work relating to the habits of 

 tropical ants has yet to be done. The tropics have 

 still to hail their Hiibner, their Lubbock, and their 

 Wheeler. A good deal of attention has, however, been 

 directed to the very remarkable relations which exist 

 between ants and the vegetable world. We find several 

 very different plants exhibiting curious modifications of 

 structure, such as huge bulbiform swellings galleried 

 in all directions, tubular stems and roots, and curious 

 appendages, which structures are constantly inhabited 

 by ants. We will discuss some of these structures in 

 the present chapter, and then ask ourselves, " Are they 

 developed by the plants for the benefit of the ants, or 

 have the ants taken advantage of the structures as 

 asylums, although they were originally developed for 

 quite a different purpose ? " 



The table on p. 187 is a list of the Myrmecophilous 

 plants which have been described from Borneo, but 

 that it could be greatly extended is quite certain. 

 On account of the great singularity of their structure^ 

 and of the great interest which attaches to the problem 

 of the relations between the plant and the ant-guests, 

 I will consider first the two Rubiaceous genera, Myrme- 

 codia and HydnopJiytinn. 



These two genera have long excited the interest of 

 botanists and entomologists alike, for no plants exhibit 

 more remarkable structures to all appearance admir- 

 ably and purposely adapted for the harbouring of ants. 

 The genera have a wide distribution, ranging from 

 Cochin China and the Malay Peninsula right down to 

 New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and away east 



