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 Ovypoda and some other of the 
Staphylinidae, 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 floricola and 
beetles of the genera Monotoma, Corticaria, Cartodere, Ptiliun, &e., 
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 Staphylinidae and Histeridae, 
their food consists of the dead bodies of the ants, and of their pupe, 
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 Dinarda 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 sanguinea, and creep with it 
into acorner. I have often seen Dinarda hayensi 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 Lepismina polypoda, and called it “‘ Myrme- 
cocleptie.”” To the menu of Dinarda dentata we may add the soft larvee 
and pupz of the Acarina that live in the nest of its host. It prevents, as 
I have often noticed in my observation-nests of Formica sanguinea, 
the rapid increase of Tyroglyphus wasmanni, an increase which is so 
fatal to the ants; it also destroys the young of Leolaps. On August 
26th, 1896, I watched a very curious scene (plate, fig. 2). A Lomechusa, 
in the big F’. sanguinea 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 Lomechusa 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 larye 
and pupe of Leolaps myrmecophilus. The Lomechusa seemed very 
uneasy, it ran nervously up and down, its agitation contrasting strangely 
with 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 deyoured 
or chased away by the Dinarda. 
To the hostile persecuted lodgers belong the brachyelytrous genera 
Myrmedonia, Myrmoecia, Lamprinus, Quedius 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 thieyes. It is these in particular who do the greatest 
