CRIMINAL CATERPILLARS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1924, Page 16

CRIMINAL CATERPILLARS

HOW THE ANT IS OUTWITTED.

None of the earth's creatures has a greater or more deserved reputation' for intelligent ability than the ant, declares Herbert Mace in the "Daily Mad." In spite of their intellectual power ants are occasionally made the dupes pf creatares whose mental capacity is far inferior. Only quite recently the final chapter has ■ been added to a story of ant deception | which can give points to the cleverest confidence trick ever worked on an unsuspecting greenhorn. There is a butterfly found in some parts of tho west of England called the large blue, or Lyeaena arion. Its caterpillar is distinguished for baring in the middle of its back a gland which secretes a sweet substance resembling honey. Now, ants, like other insects, are passionately fond of honey, and they will go to strange lengths to get it." Long ago it was known to naturalists that ants wait upon these caterpillars anp] sack the honey froni the gland. Later it was discovered that the butterfies made a special point pf laying their eggs on wild thyme plants actually growing on antheaps. The little .caterpillars which hatch from these eggs feed on the thyme flowers until they have cast their skins for the third time, when they are oniy about an eighth of an inch long. Then they disappear completely until the spring 'of the following yciir, when the butterfly appears. > Fur many years tin's was all that was known, but after much painstaking wqrk on the part uf several entomologists the curjou.s story was completed. After the third moult the little caterpillar descends from the thyme to the ground^ where it is soon discovered by one of the workers from tho ants' neat below. At this meeting the caterpillar deliberately exudes a drop of honey, which the ant greedily swallows. In a most inviting manner tho caterpillar then arches its back in the centre, and the ant promptly seizes it and carries it into the nest. Once safely inside, tho caterpillar makes no more pretence of producing honey, and the ants leave it to its own devices. It does not worry about that. It has been brought willingly into a place whither it could not possibly have gained entrance against the wish of the ants. Anon is, thereEoro, freo to do as it lists, and it is a bitter foe, feeding greedily on the younn of its hosts, until it has attained its full growth. Then it leaves the nest and _pntprs into tho seclusion necessary for its development into a winded oreaUra.