477 
Ridley.—Symbiosis of Ants and Plants. 
frequent the deflexed bud-bracts, which somewhat resemble those of the 
other species. In the swampy ground of the Botanic Gardens, at least, 
it is by no means so constantly frequented by ants as the allied species. 
Possibly this is due to some extent to the flooding two or three times 
a year of the area in which it is abundant, which may affect the abundance 
of the ants. The nectaries are conic with a depression at the top, and 
they seem to fall off very young. The young leaf is covered at first with 
a soft white down, and is densely covered with bladder-glands on the 
under side, but they are paler in colour, nearly white, and translucent. In 
the adult leaves they still remain, but are much more scanty. They are 
absent from the base of the petiole. The bud-bracts are to some extent 
like those of M. triloba , but are green, or more usually, when adult, sienna- 
brown. The apex is longer acuminate, so that when the bract is appressed 
to the stem the apex is curved to one side. At the base they are covered 
in the outer surface in the bud with short brown hairs, which persist after 
the bract is reflexed. Food-bodies of all sizes are abundant beneath, mixed 
with the hairs. The glands are smaller and more globular than on the leaf, 
and usually somewhat irregular in outline. 
In other respects these organs much resemble those of M. triloba. 
The Coccidae which are preserved in the nest are identical with those 
in M. triloba. It is quite common to find seedlings and adult trees which 
have never been occupied by ants, a thing which is rare in M. triloba. 
I notice that, as in the case of M. hypoleuca, the plants which are 
not protected by ants are much more liable to the attacks of caterpillars, 
the leaves being often gnawed, but I have not found any caterpillars 
at work. Seedlings which contain no ants may often be met with, which 
have altogether escaped the attacks of ants, but I have not seen any that 
have been protected which at the time of protection were attacked. 
A seedling about four feet high, growing in a spot covered with thick 
tall herbage, had the lower leaves partially destroyed, apparently by cater¬ 
pillars at some earlier stage of the plants life. The upper leaves, however, 
were quite untouched. On examining the plant I found that the lower half 
of the stem had no signs of having ever been occupied by ants, there being 
no entrance holes, while the upper half was colonized and the ants were 
busily engaged on the young just opened leaf at the top. The leaves had 
only been gnawed up to the point at which the colonies had commenced ; 
above they were unhurt. This seemed to show that in the early part of the 
plant’s life the ants were absent, and the caterpillars had attacked the 
young leaves, but that later the plant had been colonized, and the cater¬ 
pillars had no longer been able to attack the young leaves. 
