. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. h-parts, the larval Metopina uncoils its body and partakes of the feast;and when the ant-larva spins its cocoon it also encloses the Metopinalarva within the silken web. The commensal, however, moves to thecaudal end of its host and forms a small, flattened puparium which isapplied to the wall of the cocoon. This is obviously an adaptation forpreventing injury from the jaws of the worker ants when the cocoonis being opened and the callow extracted from its anterior end. Theant hatches before the Metopina and the empty cocoon with the pupar-ium
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. h-parts, the larval Metopina uncoils its body and partakes of the feast;and when the ant-larva spins its cocoon it also encloses the Metopinalarva within the silken web. The commensal, however, moves to thecaudal end of its host and forms a small, flattened puparium which isapplied to the wall of the cocoon. This is obviously an adaptation forpreventing injury from the jaws of the worker ants when the cocoonis being opened and the callow extracted from its anterior end. Theant hatches before the Metopina and the empty cocoon with the pupar-ium concealed in its posterior pole is carried to the refuse heap. Therethe fly emerges and escapes from the cocoon by the opening through TRUE GUESTS, ECTO- AND ENTOPARASITES. 413 which its host emerged. The Mctopina larva consumes so little foodand is so considerate of its host, that it can hardly be said to produceany injurious effect on the colony; at any rate, the larvae which haveborne commensals develop into perfectly normal workers. The ants. FIG. 249. Chalcidid ant parasites. (Original.) A, Isomeralia coronata, female; B,lateral view of same; C, Kapala floridana, male; D, female of same. clean the commensals while they are cleaning their own progeny andshow no signs of even being aware of their presence in the nest. Another case of commensalism is that of the European Antenno-phonis species (A. nhlinanni. pnbcscens, foreli and grandis], studiedby Janet (1897^), Wasmann (1902;) and Karawaiew (1905^ 19060).These mites occur only in the nests of Lasins and cling to the workers 44 ANTS. means of their tliree posterior pairs of legs while the large fore pairis stretched out and moved about like antenna?. Janet found that thesecreatures, whether present in odd or even numbers, are always orientedin a symmetrical position with respect to their host (Fig. 244). Whenonly one . IiitcnnoChorus is present, it clings to the gula, or of the ants head, with its fore
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
