. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. ANTS—CAMPONOTIDES 147 In many kinds of ants the full-grown individuals are known to feed not only the larvae by disgorging food from their own mouths into those of the little grubs, but also to feed one another. This has been repeatedly observed, and Fovel made the fact the subject of experiment in the case of Camponohis ligniperclus. He took some specimens and shut them up without food for several days, and thereafter supplied some of them with honey, stained with Prussian blue; being very hungry, they fed so greedily on this that in a few hours their
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. ANTS—CAMPONOTIDES 147 In many kinds of ants the full-grown individuals are known to feed not only the larvae by disgorging food from their own mouths into those of the little grubs, but also to feed one another. This has been repeatedly observed, and Fovel made the fact the subject of experiment in the case of Camponohis ligniperclus. He took some specimens and shut them up without food for several days, and thereafter supplied some of them with honey, stained with Prussian blue; being very hungry, they fed so greedily on this that in a few hours their hind bodies were dis- tended to three times their previous size. He then took one of these gorged individuals and placed it amongst those that had not been fed. The replete ant was at once explored by the touches of the other ants and surrounded, and food was begged from it. It responded to the demands by feeding copiously a small specimen from its mouth : when this little one had received a good supply, it in turn communicated some thereof to other specimens, while the original well-fed one also supplied others, and thus the food was speedily distributed. This habit of receiv- ing and giving food is of the greatest importance in the life- history of ants, and appears to be the basis of some of the associations that, as we shall subsequently see, are formed with ants by numerous other Insects. Oecophylla smaragdina, a common ant in Eastern Asia, forms shelters on the leaves of trees by curling the edges of leaves and joining them together. In doing this it makes use of an expedient that would not be believed had it not been testified by several competent and independent witnesses. The perfect ant has no material with which to fasten together the edges it curls; its larva, how- ever, possesses glands that secrete a supply of material for it to form a cocoon with, and the ants utilise the larvae to effect their purpose. Several of them combine to hold the foliage in the desire
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