A Natural Ant Trap

Abstract

LAST June I was staying at Husum, in the Lærdal Valley, Norway, and observed on the almost precipitous sides of the valley facing the south, immediately behind the station-house, a considerable number of the red German catchfly (Lychnis viscaria). The plants were growing luxuriantly at an altitude of some 1000 feet above the bed of the river, and were just then showing a gorgeous array of blossoms. On plucking some of the flowers I became aware of a most unpleasant stickiness around the stems; in some instances the glutinous secretion being powerful enough to support the whole weight of the stem when I inverted and opened my hand. There upon I carefully examined more than a hundred plants, and was somewhat surprised at finding, on quite 95 per cent., either the dead bodies of a large species of ant, or individuals in all stages of dying. Some flowering stems had only one dead or dying ant upon each; others had two; others three; whilst others again had as many as seven or eight. Some ants had, as it were, simply lain down in the glutinous matter and succumbed without further struggling. The heads of others, firmly imbedded in the treacherous stuff, with the rest of the body stiffened and suspended in mid-air, testified to violent and prolonged resistance. Some ants again had the body arched up, as if to avoid contact with the stem, and the legs only were fatally caught.