I've seen something similar, though instead of larvae the ants were tending mealy bugs. I've been dusting with diatomaceous earth after lifting them. Then I forget to check if this treatment works. --- On Thu, 8/5/10, Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> wrote: From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> Subject: [pbs] Observation of ants To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Date: Thursday, August 5, 2010, 9:42 AM Pursuant to the recent discussion of whether ants are harmful to bulbs, just now I lifted a pot of Colchicum alpinum and found that tiny ants were living in it, with their larvae stashed between the old and new tunics of the corms. The corms had come to no harm (can't say the same for the ants). These little ants, an exterminator once told me, live on moist rotting wood and other vegetable matter (they were in a sill under a badly designed window wall). I wonder if those in the colchicums were actually benefiting the plants by removing the rotting old leaf bases. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA