Wo The American Naturalist. [Ju ne, 



the meat reached the tentacles, these were stimulated, and acted just 



The region of the lips was diflerent in its action. At either end 

 (sometimes at only one) is the ciliated siphonoghlphe, and here the 

 ciliary action is constantly directed inward, and all matters placed 

 upon them were invariably carried inward — paper, meat, quinine, sand, 

 all acting alike. At both siphonoghyphes the current was the same— 

 directed inward. The rest of the oral area between the siphonoghyphes 

 is also ciliated, but here the current is normally outward. Sand or 

 carmine dropped here was carried outward, across the intermediate 

 zone and over the tentacles as before. If, however, a bit of meat be 

 placed here, it at first starts outward, then stops and moves in toward 

 the mouth, thus indicating, as did other experiments, that there was a 

 reversal of the direction of ciliary action. Stimulation of one side in 

 this way did not cause reversal in the other lip. Again, indifferent 

 substances and crab-meat placed near each other moved in different 

 directions, thus indicating that the reversal affected only a small area 

 and not the whole of the lip. Filter paper alone was passed outward ; 

 filter paper soaked in crab juice was swallowed. No such ciliated areas 

 occurred on the column, and this region did not react in any way to 



The Relation of Myrmecophile Lepismids to the Ants.— 



The relation of the numerous forms of animal life found in ant hills (and 

 therefore myrmecophilous) to the owners of the hills is varied. It has 

 long been well-known that the plant-lice found in the hills have a rela- 

 tion to the ants nearly analoguous to that of the cow to man. They 

 are retained and cared for by their owners for the liquid that they 

 exude from their bodies when tickled by the " milker's " antenna. 



Certain staphylinids also exude a substance of which the ants seem 

 to be fond, and in return are fed by the ants. As a consequence of 

 this symbiotic relation, Wasmann has pointed out that the palpi of the 

 staphylinids have become more or less noticeably reduced in size, thus 

 indicating some degree of dependence upon the ants. In the case of 

 Claviger tesjtaceus found in the ant hills in the neighborhood of Paris, 

 this dependence is so complete, according to Janet, 2 that the beetles 

 perish upon being separated from the ants. To this sort of symbiotic 

 relation the name coiners have applied the term myrmecoxeny. 



In addition to these myrmecoxenous forms there are those that like 

 Mynnedonia funesta capture and devour either the ants themselves or 



2 Comptes Rendus, CXXII, 799-802. 



