30 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
which have been made to the various ant-tenanted plants. I 
have for some time been collecting notes upon this subject, and 
have published a short paper upon one or two points connected 
with it.* Since then, however, so much additional material has 
come under my notice, that a brief resume of the whole matter 
may be of some interest. 
At first sight there might . appear to be little remarkable in 
the residence of insects in trees. Many insects, of course, pass 
a large portion of their life in this situation ; but in the in- 
stances to which I am about to refer, it would appear that the 
whole existence of the ants is passed in these vegetable homes ; 
or rather, that when the ants have once taken up their abode 
in them, a colony is formed, which is only dispersed by the 
destruction of the tree. Not only is a dwelling-place found, 
but in some instances a means of support as well ; and all this 
not only without injury, but even with absolute benefit to the 
tenanted plant. 
These ant-homes are found not only in the hollow trunks of 
certain trees, where their presence would be less remarkable, 
but also in tubers, leaves, and thorns. I shall consider each of 
these separately, commencing with the tubers, the special 
adaptation of which to the requirements of the ants is truly 
wonderful. 
By far the most striking instance of this is given by Myrme- 
codia tuberosa , to the very existence of which it would appear 
essential that its tuber should be tenanted by these insects. 
Rumpf, in the “Herbarium Amboinense,” published in 1750, 
appears to have been the first to figure and describe this plant, 
under the name of Nidus germinans formicarum rubrarum , 
which he terms “mirum prodigium naturae.” He seems to 
have been uncertain whether the whole was a vegetable, or 
whether the tuber was an ant’s nest from which the plant 
sprung : he says it is to be regarded as a zoophyte among vege- 
tables ! His account does not seem to have attracted any at- 
tention until about 1825, when the plant was described by Dr. 
Jack f as a genus of Rubiacece, under the name it now bears. 
It presents the form of a large irregular tuber, growing on* the 
branches of old trees ; from this spring a few thick fleshy 
stems, having a small number of smooth, leathery, oblong 
leaves crowded together at their summits. The small white 
sessile flowers are situated at the base of the petioles, and are 
almost concealed by the large persistent stipules. The tuber 
is tenanted by small and very fierce red ants, which rush out 
upon the intruder if their dwelling is attacked. The way in 
“Field,” Feb. 7, 1874. 
f “ Trans. Linn. Soc.,” xiv. 122. 
