THE INHABITANTS OF ANTS' NESTS 



77 



We have already alluded to the tiny white and blind wood-louse* 

 which lives unrestrained in the nests of ants (figure 193), and other 

 denizens in the shape of beetles and the small wingless insects called 

 spring-tails rnay also be discovered. Of the former, perhaps 

 Claviger is the best known. Quite blind, it is dependent on the 



FIGURE 194. A gallery in an Ants' nest with their "cows." 



FIGURE 195. An Ants' 

 "cow" showing the 

 underside and the pro- 

 boscis for sucking the 

 juices of plants. 



ants for food, while they in their turn, as Miiller has pointed out 

 are very fond of sucking the tufts of hair with which the beetle is 

 provided. 



* Chapter XXIII. 



