ANTS VS. ALETIA. 



91 



Fig. 10. — Solenopsis gemlnata: a, neuter, dorsal view; 

 b, neuter, side view; c, head of neuter, front view; d. 



Hald., and L. melsheimeri Hald. are found very abundantly in the cot- 

 ton fields, and presumably feed upon tbe worms. 



While we have repeatedly seen 

 this species attacking worms that 

 were upon the ground, we have 

 but once, at Macon Station, Ala., 

 witnessed it feeding on a young 

 worm on the plant ; but so many 

 correspondents have witnessed 

 the good work of ants that there 

 €an be no question as to the gen- 

 eral correctness of the above con- 

 clusions, though it is doubtful 

 whether a worm is ever attacked 

 by ants except when, from the 

 causes mentioned, it is excep- 

 tionally helpless. Again, some 

 species of ants are more ferocious 

 than others, and they will act 

 differently in different localities ; 

 hence there is a difference of 



opinion among planters as to^^^^^^^^^^^^^- (After McCook.) 

 their influence. We have therefore endeavored to get more reliable 

 and extended experience on the subject, and have especially charged 

 our assistants to make careful observations on the subject. Some of 

 these may here be quoted. Mr. Hubbard reports as follows his obser- 

 A^ations in Florida : 



^^Ants. — Aj^parently only two species are commonly found in the 

 cotton fields, both of which are more or less predatory on Aletia. I 

 am, however, of the opinion that the value of the services of ants in 

 destroying the worms has been much overestimated. Jb is true that in 

 the hottest weather worms which from some mischance fall upon the 

 heated ground are soon exhausted, and often become an easy prey to ants 

 if a colony happens to be near at hand. At such times, also, I have re- 

 marked that the stings of the latter seem to possess a greater virulence, 

 and have a powerfully paralyzing effect upon the worms. IsTumerous 

 experiments made by dropping grown worms into the midst of excited 

 swarms of ants showed that at midday 50 per cent, and during the 

 cooler hours 80 per cent escaped from their persecutors and found their 

 way again on to the plants, whither they were rarely followed. I have 

 never seen a worm attacked with any persistence when feeding on the 

 plants ; on the other hand, I have a number of times seen an ant, which 

 had incautiously approached too near, violently flung to a distance by 

 a blow from a worm, which, in such a case, uses the anterior half of its 

 body as a club. 



"Not once, but many times, will a caterpillar free itself by a flip of 

 its body when seized upon the ground, while upon the plants, unless 



