62 



MORPHOLOGY 



protect themselves from the attack of leaf-cutting 

 insects with the help of a species of warlike ant which 

 they shelter in their hollow stipulary thorns, and feed 

 with what have been called "Belt's corpuscles", 

 which are waxy food-bodies attached to the tips of the 

 leaflets. A species of Cecropia (also American plants), 

 belonging to the Natural Order Urticacece, similarly 

 harbour a species of ant in their hollow internodes, 

 and feed them with what have been called " Muller's 



Fig. 64. — Acacia sphaerocephala (a kind of labia) (after Strasburgcr ) 

 a, Punctured spines, b. Belt's corpuscles. 



bodies " secreted on the leaf-bases. This housing and 

 feeding of warlike ants is an adaptation to environ- 

 ment enabling the plants to ward off the attack of 

 leaf-cutting insects. According to the authors of this 

 theory, the leaf-cutting insects cut the leaves of 

 Cecropia and carry them to their nests, where the 

 leaves are kneaded up into a kind of bread for feeding 

 the " Fungus-(chhata)-garden ", in which they grow 

 a kind of Fungus for their own food. Plants with 

 such adaptations to withstand attacks from injurious 

 insects are called myrmecophilous or ant-loving. 

 The housing of ants in the hollow stem or thorn, and 



