Natural history -- Nicaragua; Nicaragua -- Description and travel
Similarly as, on the savannahs, I had observed a wasp attending the
honey-glands of the bull's-horn acacia along with the ants, so at
Santo Domingo another wasp, belonging to quite a different genus
(Nectarina), attended some of the clusters of frog-hoppers, and for
the possession of others a constant skirmishing was going on. The
wasp stroked the young hoppers, and sipped up the honey when it was
exuded, just like the ants. When an ant came up to a cluster of
leaf-hoppers attended by a wasp, the latter would not attempt to
grapple with its rival on the leaf, but would fly off and hover
over the ant; then when its little foe was well exposed, it would
dart at it and strike it to the ground. The action was so quick
that I could not determine whether it struck with its fore-feet or
its jaws, but I think it was with the feet. I often saw a wasp
trying to clear a leaf from ants that were already in full
possession of a cluster of leaf-hoppers. It would sometimes have to
strike three or four times at an ant before it made it quit its
hold and fall. At other times one ant after the other would be
struck off with great celerity and ease, and I fancied that some
wasps were much cleverer than others. In those cases where it
succeeded in clearing the leaf, it was never left long in peace.
Fresh relays of ants were continually arriving, and generally tired
the wasp out. It would never wait for an ant to get near it,
doubtless knowing well that if its little rival once fastened on
its leg, it would be a difficult matter to get rid of it again. If
a wasp first obtained possession, it was able to keep it; for the
first ants that came up were only pioneers, and by knocking these
off it prevented them from returning and scenting the trail to
communicate the intelligence to others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account