Ridley.—Symbiosis of Ants and Plants . 
461 
Daemonorops. 
In several species of the rattans of the genus Daemonorops ants 
habitually make nests in the large flower spathes. The inflorescence 
in these palms is enclosed in four or five stiff sheaths which in the Cymbi - 
formia section quite cover the dense flower panicles. The two outer 
spathes are the largest and usually quite enwrap the others. They only 
open a little when the flowers are ripe, and do not fall off usually till the 
fruit is quite ripe. The flowers, which are very numerous, brown, and stiffly 
cartilaginous, are wind-fertilized, the pollen being produced in great abun¬ 
dance and blown away in clouds from between the half-open spathes. In 
the spathes of Daemonorops Jenkinsianus I find nests of a species of Cam - 
ponotus , apparently a form of C. mitis. The nest is very simple, consisting 
of a few walls of soil between the inflorescence and spathe and a com¬ 
paratively small number of larvae or cocoons, together with some coccids 
guarded by these ants. 
Goniothalamus. 
There are a few species of the Anonaceous genus Goniothalamus , 
notably G. Ridleyi , King, which produce their flowers in masses at the base 
of the trunk of the tree. The flowers are of large size and dull reddish in 
colour. They are almost invariably covered by a nest of very small black 
ants, which pile up powdery soil all over them, so that they are often quite 
concealed. It would, I think, be difficult for a bee or other insect to get to 
the honey of these flowers through the nest, yet I think no species of the 
genus fruits so regularly or heavily as does Goniothalamus Ridleyi. That 
the ants are distinctly attracted by the flowers, is clear from the fact that 
the flowers from the trunk which are too high up for the ants to cover with 
the nest are generally densely covered by a swarm of the insects. Owing, 
however, to the minuteness of the ants and the difficulty of making observa¬ 
tions in such a mass of them, I have been unable to definitely decide whether 
the ants do actually fertilize the flowers by conveying the pollen from one 
to the other, but I cannot see any other way in which the fertilization 
can be effected. The ants generally throw up the mounds over the 
flowers before the buds open, as if in anticipation of the honey within 
the flowers. 
In most species of the genus the flowers are borne on the branches or 
upper part of the stem, and are brighter in colour, white or orange, and 
these are not haunted by ants, but doubtless fertilized by Hymenopterous 
or Dipterous insects. If the flowers of G. Ridleyi are, as I believe, fer¬ 
tilized by ants, their position at the base of the stem may be taken as 
a modification to that end. 
