INTERRELATIONS OF INSECTS 



28l 



tufts of hairs from which the ants secure a secreted fluid. Atemeles 



(Fig. 291) is another; it solicits and obtains food from the mouth of a 



foraging ant as if it were an ant itself. In the Alleghanies, Atemeles 



cava occurs in the nests 



of Formica rufa, and is 



much prized by this ant 



on account of the fluid 



which the beetle secretes / 



from glandular hairs on 



the sides of the abdomen. 



The beetle Claviger 

 has at the base of each 

 elytron a tuft of hairs, 

 which the ants lick per- 

 sistently. This beetle is 

 blind and appears to be 

 incapable of feeding it- 

 self; for when deprived 

 of ant-assistance it dies, 

 even though surrounded 



by food. These cases of symbiosis, or mutual benefit, are well authen- 

 ticated. 



Visitors. Many myrmecophilous insects are not restricted to ants' 

 nests, but are free to enter or to leave. This is true of such Staphylinidae 



FIG. 290. Lomechusa strumosa being freed of mites by 

 Dinar da dentata. After WASMANN. 



FIG. 291. Alcmclcs (-marginal us being fed by an ant, Myrmica scabrinodis. After WASMANN. 



as visit formicaries simply for shelter or to feed upon detritus, and these 

 visitors are treated with indifference by the ants. 



Intruders. Not so, however, with species that are inimical to the 

 interests of the ants, such as many species of Staphylinidae and His- 



