Plant-Animal Symbiosis

Abstract

IN your issue of August 22, 1895, Mr. Schwarz describes his finding in South Africa some ants inhabiting the thorns of a mimosa tree, by which he evidently means a species of Acacia. This symbiosis is well known out here, and probably also in Europe, as will be seen by a reference to Schimper's “Wechsel-beziehungen zwischen Pflanzen und Ameisen im tropischen Amerika,” p. 48. I first observed ants inhabiting the thorns of Acacia horrida in the neighbourhood of Grahamstown about six years ago. I also found them near Port Alfred. As far as my repeated observations go, the partnership between the ants and the trees is a very one-sided one.