THE WAY OF NATURE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4727, 21 July 1924, Page 3

THE WAY OF NATURE.

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 Mail). In spite of their intellectual power ants are occasionally made the dupes of creatures whose mental capac.ty 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 the west of England called the large blue, or Lycaena arion. Its caterpillar is distinguished for having 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 and suck the honey from the gland. Later it was discovered that the butterflies made a special point of laying their eggs on wild thyme plants actually growing on ant heaps. The little eatlerpillars which hatch from these eggs feed on the thyme flowers until they have cast their skins for the third time, when they are only about an eighth of an inch long. Then they disappear completely until the spring of the following year, when the butterfly appears. For many years this was all that was known, but after much painstaking work on the part .of several entomologists the curious story Was completed After the third moult the little catterpillar descends from the thyme to the ground, where it is soon discovered by one of the workers from the ants’ nest below. At this meeting the caterpillar deliberately exudes a drop ot honey, which the ant greedily swall'.ws. In a most inviting manner the caterpillar then arches its back in the centre, and the ant promptly seizes it and carries it into the nest. Once safely inside the cateipillai 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. Arion is, theieforc, free to do as it lists, and it is a bitter foe, feeding greedily on the voting of its hosts until it has attained its full growth. Then it leaves the nest and enters into the seclusion •necessary for its development into a winged creature.