NOTES ON NEOTROPICAL ANT-PLANTS 
I. CECROPIA ANGULATA, SP. NOV. 
I. W. BAILEY 
(WITH PLATE XV AND EIGHT FIGURES) 
Introduction 
In a previous paper (1) the writer discussed the significance of 
the anatomical peculiarities of a number of Ethiopian ant-plants. 
So many features of unusual interest were encountered in studying 
these plants, that it seemed desirable to extend the scope of the 
investigation, and to include certain neotropical myrmecophytes 
for comparative purposes. With this end in view, the writer spent 
the summer of 1920 at William Beebe’s Tropical Research Station 
in British Guiana, where the following ant-plants (Tococa aristata 
Benth., Triplaris surinamensis Cham., Tachigalia paniculata Aubl., 
Cordia nodosa Lam., and Cecropia angulata, sp. nov.) grow in close 
proximity to the laboratory. 
Since the publication of Scuimprr’s (8) much quoted investiga- 
tions, Cecropia adenopus Mart. has been considered one of the most 
classical illustrations of myrmecophytism. ScHIMPER interpreted 
the ‘“‘Miillerian food bodies” and the ‘“‘prostomata”’ of this ant- 
plant as adaptations for enlisting the services of an aggressive army 
of Aztecas, which protect their host against the attacks of the 
destructive, leaf cutting, Attine ants; a conclusion that has been 
assailed by von InerInG (4), ULE (9), Retric (7), Fresric (3), 
and other critics of the BeLt-pELPiNO theory of myrmecophily. 
In view of the important réle that has been assigned to C. adenopus, 
in discussions concerning the significance of ant-plant symbioses, 
the writer welcomed the opportunity of studying a somewhat similar 
species of this interesting genus. The results of the investigation 
are summarized in the following pages. 
Taxonomy 
One of the first difficulties encounted in studying a neotropical 
bioccenose, in which representatives ofthe higher plants, ants, 
369] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 74 
