claviger

This species of Claviger is never met with except in ants' nests, though on the other hand there are many communities of Lasius which possess none of these beetles; and M. Lespès found that when he placed Clavigers in a nest of ants which had none of their own, the beetles were immediately killed and eaten, the ants themselves being on the other hand kindly received by other communities of the same species.

A genus of Dragon-fly, Onychogomphus, has in Europe a somewhat similar distribution to Claviger, but it has besides a very extensive foreign range.

All the species of Claviger are confined to Europe, chiefly to the south, but one species, Cl. testaceus, has wandered farther north and occurs in the nest of the ant Lasius flavus in the south of England, Ireland, and Scotland.

If a nest is disturbed the ants hasten to carry their eggs and larvæ out of danger; they display the same solicitude with regard to the Claviger, and carefully bear them to the depth of their galleries.

The art of domesticating the Claviger is a stage of civilisation reached by some tribes and not by others.