A CURIOUS PARTNERSHIP.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13592, 6 October 1914, Page 2

A CURIOUS PARTNERSHIP.

. - Herr E. Uhle, a German botanist, has discovered a species of ant that makes a living nest for itself. in the trees of the Amazon jungles. This aut cV-nosits theseeds of certain parasitical plants 'of the arum and nightshade families on tree trunks and branches where they have light and air, and, IlfiiT TJlile says, actually covers them v. ith soil. In the moist, tropical air, t:ie- seeds soon sprout, and produce a niass of leaves. The roots become so firmly embedded in the tree that neither wind nor water can loosen them. The thrifty ants do not do this work for nothing, for the mass of vegetation furnishes them with shelter and food. On the other hand, their efforts benefit the seeds, which they thus free from a.precarious struggle for existence in the dank undergrowth.