DOMESTIC DEPRAVITY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143782, 4 May 1912, Page 5

DOMESTIC DEPRAVITY.

HABITS OF A QUEENSLAND ANT. When Solomon counselled the sluggard to take ekaraple from the ant, he could not have been thinking of the extraordinary domestic arrangements of a Queensland ant. described bv Air. G. V. Hudson, F.E.S., at Wednesday night’s mooting of tho Wellington Philosophical Society, “The prime actor in the proceedings,” said Mr. Hudson, “is a species of moth known as Cyclntoma Monoeentra, described by Meviick. This moth denosits groat quantities of eggs on twins in the vicinity of the auts’ nests. The little caterpillars which emerge from these eggs first live ns narasitos upon the bodv of a jassid. a homopterous insect somewhat resembling a cicada. Here fhev food for a short time on the juices of the jassid. but soon leave their host, and inclose themselves in a small cocoon, where thev are transformed into a woodlouse-looking caterpillar, which is the secondary larval stage of cvclotorna. On leaving the coconn the caterpillar is almost immediately seized by an ant and forcibly taken into tile depths of the nest. Here it feeds on the voting of the ants, destroying ns manv as throe larvae in a few minutes, hut 'despite this fact the auts not only prevent the caterpillars from leaving their nests, but continually introduce fresh ones. The caterpillars excrete a juicy fluid, which is eagerly coiisir.ved hv the ants. The caterpillars are also stated to ‘groom’ the ants, hut the benefits thus conferred can hardly compensate them for the loss of, so many of their young. The caterpillar finally leaves the ants’ nest to undergo its transformation into a pupa. The whole position is thus clearly summarised by Mr. Moyrick in a supplementary note at the conclusion of Mr. Dodd’s paper: The terra “ant-friend” seems scarcely accurate, the moth appearing to have by far the host of the bargain. One is reminded of tho crocodile styled “protector of the poor.” The unfortunate ant. blinded hv his partiality for liquor, overlooks the'ijact that it is produced entirely at the expense of his own larva 1 devoured. The moth, on tho other hand, is merely getting rid of a hv-nrodnot of his digestive system, whilst obtaining free quarters, shelter, and protection from enemies, and a permanent food-snppiv in all seasons. The, whole life-history is most curious, and as an instance of double parasitism unique, so far as I know.’ “The habits thus disclosed,” said Air. Hudson, “are so depraved, so novel, and so foreign tn what has always been regarded as characteristic of ants, that I have ventured to bring it under the notice of tho society.” Air. Hudson added that his information was drawn from a paper road by Air. F, P. Dodd before the Entomological Society of London, and Air. Dodd’s repeated observations placed the facts beyond doubt.