Nick Maclaren wrote or quoted:
In article , Tim Tyler wrote:

Maybe the people you consulted didn't pay attention to the ants -
but I reckon there are quite a few others who do. After all,
the UK Organic association and the The Royal Horticultural
Society, publicly state that ants protect aphid infestations -
and IMO, their relationship mythical or not, is pretty common
knowledge.

I find the idea that repetition of a myth by Eminent Bodies will
turn it into a fact somewhat bizarre.

It /is/ an odd idea. Where did you get it from?

However, this *is* the sort of experiment those wanting to
vindicate the ants might like to consider.

Guilty until proven innocent? How very scientific.

Ants have been proven gulity on numerous occasions. The issue
appears to be that few (though at least one) of the experiments
which I can find illustrating ants protecting and cultivating
aphids were done with UK-native ants and aphids.

I see no terribly convincing reason for thinking that these will
prove to be an exception.

These are some more UK papers which look like they bear on the
subject. Though reviewing them is currently beyond my scope,
some answers may lie within:

El-Ziady, S., and J. S. Kennedy. 1956. Beneficial effects of
the common garden ant, Lasius niger L., on the black bean
aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli. Proceedings of the Royal
Entomological Society London (A) 31:61–65.

Nixon, G. E. J. 1951. The association of ants with aphids
and coccids. Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, London UK.
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