THE GUESTS OF ANTS AND TERMITES. 41 
As Mr. Morley says, Suffolk is classic ground for students of the 
Aculeate Hymenoptera, for no fewer than 54 out of the 158 species of 
bees mentioned in his list are, and will be known throughout the 
length and breadth of their distribution in Kurope, by the names given 
to them by Kirby, and almost all of these were described from speci- _ 
mens captured by him at Barham, in Suffolk. The great joint author 
of the ‘Introduction to Entomology ”’ did a great honour to the 
science of what Mr. Morley calls ‘‘ Anthophilology,”’ in selecting it as 
his chief study, and his reason for doing this, quoted by Mr. Morley in 
his preface, is interesting. It was that ‘in no department of the 
animal kingdom is the divine wisdom so eminently conspicuous,”’ 
and here most collectors of the present day who have dipped into the 
pleasures of wild-bee hunting will be inclined to heartily agree with 
our much respected predecessor. 
The Guests of Ants and Termites*. 
By EK. WASMANN, 8§.J. (translated by H. DONISTHORPH, F.Z.S8., F.E.S.). 
‘“‘Wer zahlt die Volker, nennt die Namen, 
Die gastlich hier zusammenkamen ? ”’ 
The thoughtful naturalist finds in the study of the guests of ants 
and termites many interesting biological problems, and the further he 
advances in his researches, the more fully are his pains rewarded by 
new and unexpected discoveries. The science which treats of Myrme- 
cophilous and Termitophilous insects is a comparatively new one, yet 
one may affirm that few branches of biology have yielded such 
marvellous results. Ants and termites are not such inaccessible and 
impatient beings as they are generally represented to be, and in every 
zone, the nests of these social insects are found to contain guests 
belonging to various classes of animals, whilst the relation of these to 
their hosts is of various kinds. Symbiosis presents itself here under 
various aspects, amongst which real hospitality (Myrmekoxenie and 
Termitoxenie), and relations of friendship (Symphilie) take first 
rank, and as far as we can tell are unequalled elsewhere in the animal 
kingdom. 
The habits of the guests of ants and termites cover such a wide 
field and comprise so many different elements that it is difficult to 
give a short yet comprehensive view of them. The work{ published by 
me three years ago on the different kinds of Myrmecophilous and 
Termitophilous insects then comprised 125 of the former and 109 of 
the latter ; these, however, form but a fraction of the individuals 
hidden in the nests of tropical ants and jealously guarded by their 
armed gaolers. New and interesting discoveries are continually 
coming to light in Madagascar, India, Brazil, Cape Colony, and other 
distant countries, and the description of new species alone occupies 
considerable time. 
In the fullest sense, Myrmecophilous and Termitophilous animals 
include all the regular companions of these social insects. Chance 
visitors to their nests are necessarily excluded. So great is the number 
* Extracts from BH. Wasmann’s ‘‘ Die Giiste der Ameisen und Termiten,” Illus. 
Zeit. f. Hnt., 1898, Heft 10-16. 
t ‘‘ Kritisches Verzeichniss der Myrmekophilen uud Termitophilen Arthropo- 
den,” 1894. 
