THE GUESTS OF ANTS AND TERMITES. 149 



attacks, as is the case with the oval Histeridae, or on account of the 

 quickness of their movements as with Oxypoda and some other of the 

 StaphyUnidae , and the extraordinarily quick Lepismids. 



The advantages which the indifferently tolerated guests obtain by 

 living with the ants are of very different kinds. Besides a dwelling 

 place and the protection from enemies which they receive by living in 

 the houses of their hosts, they also find a suitable means of subsistence. 

 In many of them, as for instance the larva of Cetonia fioricola and 

 beetles of the genera Monotonia, Corticaria, Cartodere, Ptilium, &c., 

 their food consists of the vegetable substances and decayed remnants 

 of the nest. The food of the Coluocera, that dwell among the corn 

 collecting ants consists of the provisions stored in their hosts' granaries. 

 For many other guests, especially in the StapiJtylinidae and Histeridae, 

 their food consists of the dead bodies of the ants, and of their pupae, 

 and also the dead bodies of other insects which their hosts drag in as 

 prey into their nests. They live as scavengers as well as lodgers, 

 parasites in the widest sense of the word, at the expense of the ants, 

 and do not even spare the latter' s offspring when an opportunity 

 presents itself. The genus THnarda is a good example of this mode of 

 living. In imitation of the jackal they tear to pieces the bodies of the 

 insects brought in as prey by the ants, also the latter's dead, and their 

 empty pupa-cases. I once saw a Dinarda dentata steal an egg from a 

 big mass of them in a nest of Formica aawjuinea, and creep with it 

 into a corner. I have often seen Dinarda luu/emi take part of the food 

 of two ants feeding each other, it does so by raising itself between the 

 two and licking the drops of food as they fall. Ch. .Janet often noticed 

 this method of feeding with Lcpii^mina polypoda, and called it "Myrme- 

 cocleptie." To the menu of Dinarda dentata we may add the soft larvte 

 and pupte of the Acarina that live in the nest of its host. It prevents, as 

 I han^e often noticed in my observation-nests of Formica sanyuinea, 

 the rapid increase of Tyroylyphus icasmanni, an increase which is so 

 fatal to the ants ; it also destroys the young of Leolaps. On August 

 26th, 1896, 1 watched a very curious scene (plate, fig. 2). A Lomechnsa, 

 in the big F. sanyninea nest which had stood for many years in my study, 

 came out of a part of the nest used by the ants as a waste bin for the 

 refuse from their nest, and which swarmed with mites. The upper part of 

 the hind body of the Lomechnsa was covered with these tiny creatures, 

 which appeared like innumerable little white spots moving rapidly 

 about, and which, examined under the lens, turned out to be the larvfe 

 and pupae of Leolaps myrmecophilus. The Lomechnsa seemed very 

 uneasy, it ran nervously up and down, its agitation contrasting strangely 

 Avith its usually solemn demeanour. It then met a Dinarda dentata, 

 which reared up on to its back with its fore feet. It now stood quite 

 still, and in a few seconds the greater part of the mites were devoured 

 or chased away by the Dinarda. 



To the hostile persecuted lodgers belong the brachyelytrous genera 

 Myrmedonia, Myrmoecia, Lamprinns, Quedias brevis and Xantholinus 

 atratus. Their large size prevents them from being tolerated, as they 

 instantly attract the attention of their hosts. They live as beasts of 

 prey on the ants and their young, but as we have already shown, thieves 

 and robbers are to be found amongst the tolerated guests, and even in 

 the true guests, which, in spite of all the care and kindness they receive, 

 are no better than thieves. It is these in particular who do the greatest 



