PROVISIONS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 10/ 



that the practical insect takes so much care in order 

 to repair the injustice of nature towards the beetle; 

 the part of a devoted sick nurse would not suit 

 him ; he cares for the Claviger because it is his 

 property, a capital which brings in interest in the 

 shape of excellent sweet little drops which are good 

 to suck.i 



A yellow ant, who wishes to enjoy the result 

 of the cares given to his pensioner, approaches it 

 and gently caresses it with his antennae ; the other 

 shows signs of pleasure at this visit, and soon 

 a pearly drop appears on the tuft of hairs at the 

 edge of its elytra, and this the ant hastens to 

 lick. The beetle is thus exploited and tickled by 

 all the members of the community to which he 

 belongs who meet him on their road. But when 

 it has been milked two or three times it ceases to 



^ There is little doubt, however, that some species of Aphides and 

 allied Coccidse would be liable to extermination if not protected by 

 their ant masters. See, for instance, Forel, Bull. Soc. Vaud,, 1876. 

 Mr. Cockerell in Jamaica has noted an interesting Coccid, Icerya rosa, 

 which is protected by ants; "at the present moment some of these 

 Icerya are enjoying life, which would certainly have perished at my 

 hands but for the inconvenience presented by the numbers of stinging 

 ants." — Nature, 27th April 1893. Mr. Romanes {Nature, 18th May 

 1893) quotes as follows from a letter addressed to him by the Rev. W. 

 G. Proudfoot: — "On looking up I noticed that hundreds of large 

 black ants were going up and down the tree, and then I saw the 

 aphides. . . . But what struck me most was that the aphides showered 

 down their excretions independently of the ants' solicitations, while at 

 other times I noticed that an ant would approach an aphis without 

 getting anything, and would then go to another. I was struck with 

 this, because I remembered Mr. Darwin's inability to make the aphides 

 yield their secretion after many experiments. A large number of 

 hornets were flying about the tree, but seemed afraid of the ants; for 

 when they attempted to alight, an ant would at once rush to the spot, 

 and the hornet would get out of its way." 



