. The animans and man; an elementary textbook of zoology and human physiology. symbiosis to enable us tobe certain of the truth of the alleged careand guarding of the ant-cows, as Linnaeuscalled these aphids, by their milkers, theants. That ants do swarm about the aphidsto lap up the honey dew excreted bythem is wholly true, and the very presence FIG. 215. Aenig- of the sharp-jawed and pugnacious ants mails blaltoides, i r ,1 i must keep away many enemies of the de- a Phorid fly, J J which lives in fenseless plant lice, toothsome morsels forthe nest of the the lady-bird beetles, flower-fly lar
. The animans and man; an elementary textbook of zoology and human physiology. symbiosis to enable us tobe certain of the truth of the alleged careand guarding of the ant-cows, as Linnaeuscalled these aphids, by their milkers, theants. That ants do swarm about the aphidsto lap up the honey dew excreted bythem is wholly true, and the very presence FIG. 215. Aenig- of the sharp-jawed and pugnacious ants mails blaltoides, i r ,1 i must keep away many enemies of the de- a Phorid fly, J J which lives in fenseless plant lice, toothsome morsels forthe nest of the the lady-bird beetles, flower-fly larvae and ,Formica fits- ,1 j . ^ J , other predatory insects. ca, in Denmark. -> (Thirteen times In the case of the interesting relations natural size; between the corn root aphid, Aphis maidis- radici, of the Mississippi Valley States, and the little brown ant, Lasius bnmneus, however, we have the careful observations of Professor Forbes to rely on. In the Mississippi Valley, this aphid deposits in autumn its eggs in the ground in corn fields, often in the galleries. MUTUAL AID AND COMMUNAL LIFE 425 of the little brown ant. The following spring before thecorn is planted, these eggs hatch. Now, the little brownant is especially fond of the honey dew secreted by the cornroot lice. So when the latter hatch in the spring, beforethere are corn roots for them to feed on, the ants carefullyplace them on the roots of certain kinds of grass and knot-weed (Setaria, Polygonum) and there protect them untilthe corn germinates. They are then removed to the rootsof the corn. It is probable that the ants even collect theeggs of the aphids in the autumn and carry them into theirnests for protection and care. The studies of Wheeler and others have revealed someinteresting cases of the living together of different speciesof ants. In some cases one of the ant species may be livingalmost wholly at the expense of the other species, as doesthe little yellow thief-ant, Solenopsis molesta. Altho
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