. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. less refusefood or offal, pupal exuviae and dead ants, at least in the superficial 3So ANTS. chambers. Fourth, the living larvae and pupae represent an abundantand highly nutrition- tood >npply for any insects that can elude thewatchfulness of the ants. Fifth, the ants, in protecting themselvesfrom larger animals, necessarily protect any small organism-^ livingin their not-. Sixth, the philoprogenitive instincts of the antsare capable of being deceived and exploited, for these insects are sofond of nursing that they are always ready to lavi
. Ants; their structure, development and behavior. less refusefood or offal, pupal exuviae and dead ants, at least in the superficial 3So ANTS. chambers. Fourth, the living larvae and pupae represent an abundantand highly nutrition- tood >npply for any insects that can elude thewatchfulness of the ants. Fifth, the ants, in protecting themselvesfrom larger animals, necessarily protect any small organism-^ livingin their not-. Sixth, the philoprogenitive instincts of the antsare capable of being deceived and exploited, for these insects are sofond of nursing that they are always ready to lavish their affectionson any organisms that resemble ant larvae. Since the dwellings oftermites, social wasps and bees offer many of the attraction- hereenumerated, it is not surprising to find that these insects, too, have theirnc-t-mates and parasites. These, however, are far less numerous thanthe myrmecophiles. More extraordinary than the number of myrmecophiles is the diver-sity of their relations to the ants. It is by no means easy to frame an. FIG. 225. Dinarda dent at a eating mites from the surface of Lomechusa stniinosa. (Wasmann.) ethological classification of this perplexing assemblage of assassins,scavengers, satellites, guests, commensals and parasites, for the samespecies may assume different relations towards the ants in its differentdevelopmental stages, or it may be sufficiently versatile to combine thehabits of different groups. Nevertheless, Wasmann has succeeded inworking out a very good classification, which is sufficiently elastic formost purposes. He divides all myrmecophiles into the following fourgroups: T. Inimically Persecuted Intruders, or Synechthrans.—These in-sect** live in the nests as scavenegers or cowardly assassins of isolatedants, and are treated with marked hostility. They have to elude theants in order to get at their food, which usually consists of dead ordiseased ants, the brood or the refuse of the nest. PERSECUTED AND TOLERATED GUESTS.
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectants, bookyear1910
