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Branca — Articulaia — Consisting of rings, or joints. Criass — Znsects — Uaving bodies divided into two or three distinct parts. ORDER — Hymenoptera — Having membranous wings.
FamiLy — Formicaria — Ant family.
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Saep-O you ever find yourself, some dreamy summer day, with no- thing to do? The hot, dense rays of the July sun scorch the dry grass, glow in the burning sand, and almost hiss in the water of the idle stream. The birds hide in the dense thickets, the cattle pant in the shade, and the very dog wishes he could take his jacket off. The straw- berry leaves crisp in the heat, and rest upon =e.
tai
4 ABOUT ANTS.
the ground; the corn curls its green blades, and turns blue; the portulaccas sLut their cups; the pansies hang their heads; even the giant sunflower droops his broad leaves, and the cab- bages perspire. It is too warm to work, or to read, or to play. The boy has exhausted all his own plans for fun, and in despair asks his mother, ‘“* What shall I do?”
T’ll tell you what to do. Find an ant-hill in some shady place, where the sun will not burn your back, lie down upon your face, and watch it. You have passed such a thousand times, without knowing what curious things could be seen there. The little fellows worked all the morning, and brought up out of that hole in the middle, all the grains of sand that you see piled around in a tiny, circular fortress. One by one they brought them out and laid them in their places. Now they are thoroughly warmed by the sun, and they are carrying them back again, into the rooms which they have excavated below. If there is a flat stone near, turn it over, and you will quite likely
THEIR CITIES. 5
find a much busier crowd. A large chamber, with many winding passages running hither and thither, and connecting with each other, and with other passages underneath, has been made, like the public square and the thronged streets of an old fashioned city. Itis not like the exact, right-angled, stiff, modern town, but the lanes turn in and out, and yet go on with persevering directness towards some particular spot which was not down in the original pian, although a point of much consequence. Scat- tered all along the thoroughfares of this stone- canopied town, and quite plenty in the grand square, are many long, round, white some- things, a little like grains of wheat. People have mistaken these things for the food of the ants, and so have written,
‘“‘ The little ant, for one poor grazn, Doth tug, and toil, and strive.”
But the ants lay up no food. They need none; for as soon as the hard frosts of autumn chill them, they lie down to sleep till. the spring
6 ABOUT ANTS.
wakes them again. If they did lay up food, it would not be grain, for the ant can no more eat grain than a man can eat gold, and the ant is not so big a fool as to hoard what he can not use.
Others have thought that these little white sacks are the eggs of the ants; but eggs do not grow, and surely ants can not lay eggs tuat are larger than themselves. Whatever they are, the ants evidently think them very valua- ble. Away they go, over the clumps of earth, and through the tiny streets, as if to see what has happened, and estimate the damage. They don’t quite understand it, but they are agreed that one thing is to be done forthwith — these precious little sacks must be carried in, out of danger. So each grasps the nearest, and drags it away to the hole in the centre, the gateway of the inner town, where you see the throng coming out. The sack is larger than the ant, but he seizes it resolutely, and raises it over his head. Away he creeps, but it strikes that block ct sand at the street corner, and
THEIR COCOON-SACKS. 7
he can not lift it over. He lays it down and pulls the end of it round; that obsta- cle is past, but another is beyond. A second worker comes, and the two, by pulling at one end and lifting at the other, have brought it to the gate. Surely they can not get it through that narrow and crooked passage. One has gone below, and the sack shuts him from sight. The other tugs and pulls. It will not move. Yes, it does; see that end rise in the air; now it sinks in the hole; now it is out of sight. But here comes another, and another. All are | hurrying to the numerous stairways to the city below, and in a short time all will have van. ished.
These sacks contain the young ants. The eggs were laid by the queen, and hatched by the warmth of the hot grains of sand. The grubs were fed, and grew, and finally shut themselves up in the sacks, as the cat- erpillar spins a cocoon, or the beetle-grub sheds his coat and becomes a chrysalis. Then the ants take great care of these sacks. They
ABOUT ANTS.
are very precious to them because they contain their children. If the air is damp and cold, or the rain falls, they carry them down into the lower rooms, and keep them warm. If the sun is warm and bright, they are brought where the warmth may be felt, without making them too dry. If they happen to be exposed, we have seen how they are hurried to a place of safety. If you should carefully dig down into the earth, you would find the underground city very extensive, the long, winding galleries lying tier after tier beneath each other, and leading to large apartments, where the ants and their children find room.
Three kinds of ants come out of these cocoon- sacks. There are males, which have four wings; females, which are much larger, and have two wings; and a third kind, called work- ers, or nurse-ants, which have no wings. After midsummer the several kinds may often be — seen very busy about an ant hill, the winged ants trying to get away, and the workers bring: ing them back as often as they can find them
.“
HOW THEY FOUND COLONIES. 9
The males seem to be worthless fellows, and soon disappear. They have no sting to protect themselves with, and no jaws to help them get a living.
Some of the females are caught by the work- ers, and taken back to the nest. Others wan- der away with a few followers and found new colonies, while others stray away by themselves, going out into the wide world alone. When
one alights, she examines the new land which - she has discovered, to see if it is fit for a home. If she is satisfied, she turns back her head, bites off her wings at the shoulders, and settles down for life. Her wings carried her from her moth- er’s house to her new home, and henceforth her journeying is ended. Then she begins to hol- low out a chamber for herself. Even if she has workers with her, ske continues to toil until she has laid eggs; then she is recognized and hon- ored as a queen. If alone, she has to continue her toil until the young from her own eggs make a colony about her. The grubs, when hatched, are fed by the nurse-ants, or by the
tO ABOUT ANTS.
mother, with food prepared in the stomacn, and the solitary insect has much to do, to find food for herself and her hungry family. Ants eat various substances, particularly such as are juicy, or contain sugar. They kill and eat weaker insects, and they are very fond of ripe, sweet fruit. One may be sure they will always choose the best. If the pioneers can not eat the whole of some plunder which they have found, they carry away what they can, and then bring back an army to carry off the rest. They are very fond of a substance called honey- dew. Ants are often seen running up and down the trunks of trees, even when there 1s no fruit on the tree to tempt them. As the trees which they visit are often sickly, they are supposed to do some injury. They are not at all to blame, but are only going to their farms to look after: their cattle. The leaves and ten- der twigs of these trees will be found to be covered with small, pale-green insects, called Aphides, or Plant-lice. They are often very closely packed upon the leaf or stem, and they
THEIR INDUSTRY. II
do harm by sucking up the juices of the grow- ing plant. The ant comes up the tree to his dairy farm, and strokes one of the green lice with his feeler; the louse gives out a sigle drop of clear liquid, which the ant drinks. Then he goes to the next, and so on, milking his cows, or gathering honey-dew. When he has enough, he goes back to his work, digging, _ building, or feeding the young ants.
The working ant does a great deal of work inaday. M. Huber, a French naturalist, gives an account of a single day’s work of one ant. The insect first dug in the earth a groove or road, about a quarter of an inch deep and four inches long. The dirt which he took out, he kneaded into pellets, and placed on each side of his road, to make a wall. When this road was finished, very smooth and straight, he found that another was wanted, and he made that in the same manner, and about the same size. A man, to have done as much in propor- tion to his size, must have dug two ditches, each four and a half feet deep, and seventy-two
12 ABOUT ANTS.
feet long; he must have made the clay inte bricks, and laid them up in walls on each side of the ditches, two to three feet high and fifteen inches th'eck. He must have gone over it all and made it straight and smooth; and must have made it alone, in ground full of logs and - stones.
The Brown Ants, F’. brunnea, are both miners and builders. They work either at night or in damp weather, because the sunshine dries their mortar too fast. They build a house of many atories, sometimes twenty or thirty. Hach story is about a fifth of an inch high, supported by many partitions and pillars. In wet weather they take the family into the upper rooms; in dry weather they occupy the middle or the lower floors. While. building, they work the damp clay in their jaws until the pellets are compact, and will adhere firmly; then they press them tightly against the tops of the partitions which they have made. As fast as one row of bricks has dried, another row is added; thus they will lay a perfectly smooth and strong ceiling two
CARPENTERS 13
inches in diameter. When these walls are fin- ished, the rain and sun seem only to make them harder. If a stick or straw is in their way, they at once make a beam or a post of it. If a post, they cover it with mortar until it is thick and strong enough for their work. Ifa beam, they build their ceiling against and around it. If a room is too large, they build partitions, and divide it into smaller rooms of suitable size.
Other Ants are carpenters. They often re- move so much of a log of wood as to leave it a mere honey-comb, pierced through and through in every direction with their passages. The walls between are often as thin as paper, and yet are never broken through except where on# passage crosses another. They can not know, how to cut so near another passage by sight, for all is done in the dark; they can not plan or measure, as a reasoning being would do; and yet they do their work with greater deli- cacy and accuracy than the man who reasons and measures. For some unexplained cause,
14 ABOUT ANS.
the wood through which they cut 1s all colored black, as if the fire had passed through it. When these black carpenters get into « dwelling, they cause a deal of trouble. They make themselves at home in the very wood- work of the house. They gnaw a way into any wooden box which they wish to explore, and will find the least crevice into the sugar-box or cake-jar. The prudent housewife puts her pot of sweetmeats in a pan of water, but if the ants know what the jar contains, they will find a way to it, even if they crawl upon the shelf above, and drop down upon it. The family may be almost exterminated, and yet, if two or three be left, with all the resources of the nest at their command, in a little time the plagueg are as thick as ever. Moreover, they bite. Some tribes of Ants are very warlike, ané¢ they make war to capture the workers of other tribes, and obtain slaves for their own commu- nities. It is said that the kidnappers are always pa.e or red Ants, and that the captured slaves are black When the red Ants are about to
THE/R WARFARE. 15
make a foray, they send scouts to explore the ground, who afterwards return and report their success, They then march forth in regulaz armies. The assailed town pours out its inhab- itants, and the fight begins. Head to head, foot to foot, jaw to jaw, the sable warriors de- fend their homes and their children, but in vain. The victory is always with the invaders. They do not drive out their conquered foes, but they break into their homes and carry away the cocoons of the workers. The red ants return in perfect order to their own city, bearing with them their living burdens. They treat the plundered young with the same care they give their own, and the ants produced from the stolen cocoons seem to work with abundant energy and good will. The irhabit- ants of the besieged city, knowing what result will follow the fight, often carry away many of their young. They take them to the tops of the grass stems, and hide them amid the foliage of other plants. When the raid is over, they bring them back to the nest again. Several
16 ABOUT ANTS.
kinds of ants practice this kind of warfare, and the results are too well attested by careful observers to admit of doubt.
Although there are many kinds, and count. less numbers of Ants in the cooler countries of the temperate zone, they are far surpassed in number, in size, and in venomous power, by those found in the hot lands of the torrid zone. Here all kinds of reptile and of insect life seem to be extravagantly developed, and the ants are often so numerous and so powerful as to drive away every other living thing. .
The Satiba or Coushie Ant, Gicodoma cepha- lotes, lives in South America. It is often called the Parasol Ant. Large columns may be seen marching along, each carrying in its jaws, and over its head, a round piece of leaf, about the size of adime. Many supposé that this is actu- ally carried to keep. off the heat of the sun; but the fact is that they use the leaves to thatch the roofs of their houses, and to keep the loese earth from falling in. They choose the leaves of cultivated trees, as the orange and
THE SAUBA ANTS. -
the coffee. When they attack a tree, they strip it of foliage so entirely, that it often dies. Then they march away with their plunder, and fling it on the ground, at the nest. Another party of workers take up the pieces, and put thein upon the roof, covering them with dirt. These domed houses are wonderfully large, measuring sometimes two feet in height, and forty feet in diameter. Their underground cities are on even a larger scale. The smoke of burning sulphur blown into one opening has been found to come out at another, more than two hundred feet away.
There are three kinds of these ants: the winged, the large headed —sometimes called soldiers, and the workers. The large headed are also of two sorts: one kind has a smooth helmet, covered *with horny substance, which one can almost see through, and the other wears a dark helmet, covered with hairs. The business of these large-heads is not very well understood. The smooth helmets seem to do nothing but walk about. They do not fight:
18 - ABOUT ANTS.
they do not work; they do not appear to over. look those which do work. The hairy-helmets are not known to do any more. If the topo. one of the mounds be taken off, a circular wel will be found in the centre, into which a stick three or four feet long may be thrust, without touching bottom. Presently some of these hairy-headed fellows, each wearing one eye in the middle of its forehead, like a fabled Cyclops, will come slowly up the smooth sides of the well, to see what is wanted. But they are not very pugnacious, and may easily be caught by the fingers.
The winged ants are the perfect males and females. They come out a little after midsum- mer, that is in February. The females have bodies about as large as hornets, and spread’ their wings nearly two inches: The males are much smaller. Although hosts pour out of the nests, few remain after a day, for the birds and insect eating animals have devoured most of them. Those which escape found new colo- nies in spite of all the dangers which threaten
FORAGING ANTS. — 19
«
to destroy them; even the art of mar can not conquer them. ,
Among the South American Ants are several species which are classed together, and called- Foraging Ants. They belong to the genus Eciton. They have been confounded with the Saiiba Ants, just described, but their habits are quite different. The real Foraging Ant, £. dre- panephora, is very annoying, and very useful. These insects go out from their cities in im- mense armies, not very broad, but often a hun- dred yards long. Officers march beside the column, very busy keeping their own portion of the line in order. There is an officer to about twenty privates; their white heads nod- ding up and down make them quite conspicu- ous. The pittas, or ant thrushes, always accom-| pany these armies, picking up the Ants for their own food; but still the band goes marchirg on. The people know that the Ants are on the war path, and make every preparation for their reception.
In those countries, insects of every kind get
20 ABOUT ANTS.
into the houses, and multiply to an extent which almost drives the inhabitants from their somes. By day they are a trouble, and by night a pest. They bite, and suck, and scratch, ar.d sting. They crawl over the food; they hide in the bed; they fly into the lamp, and then whirl on the table; they creep into the ink; they emit horrible smells. There are centipedes which sting, and scorpions which sting. There are cockroaches of powerful size and smell, and of insatiable appetite. As for snakes and lizards, and other creeping things, they are too common to be noticed. It is of no use to fight. Your enemies are legions of numbers innumerable. But when the Forag- ing Ants come, the case is altered, for nothing can stand their attack. When the pittas come about, the people open every box and drawer in the house, so as to allow the ants to explere every crevice, and then they vacate the prem- ises.
“Presently a few scouts, which form the van- guard o1 the grand army, approach, and seem
RAIDS UPON VERMIN. 21
to inspect the house, to see if it is worthy of a visit. The long column then pours in and dis- perzes over the dwelling. They enter every crevice, and speedily haul out any unfortunate - ereature which is hidden therein. Great oock- roaches are dragged unwillingly away, being pulled in front by four or five ants, and pushed from behind by as many more. The rats and mice speedily succumb to the onslaught of their myriad foes, the snakes and the lizards fare no better, and even the formidable weapons of the centipedes and scorpions are overcome.
“In a wonderfully short time the Foraging Ants have done their work, the turmoil gradu- ally ceases, the scattered parties again form into line, and the army moves out of the house, carrying its spoils in triumph. When the in- habitants return, they find every intruder gone, and to their great comfort may move about without treading on some unfortunate creature, or put on their shoes without knocking them on the floor to shake out a scorpicn or a centi- pede.”
22 ABOUT ANTS.
But those who are accustomed to the country are careful to keep out of the way. Ifa man should happen to cross the column, the ants at once dash at him, climb up his legs, and bite with their powerful and poisonous jaws. His only safety is in running away until the main army is too far off to renew the attack, and then destroying those which he has brought with him. This is not easy, for the Ants have long, hooked jaws, and bite so fiercely that they may be pulled away piecemeal, leaving the jaws in the wound to be picked out separately.
Another species, #. predator, marches in broad, solid mass. It is a little creature, like our common red ant, but much brighter col- ored, making the trunk of a tree upon which many climb look as if smeared with a blood-red liquid.
This little red ant is exceedingly venomous: its bite brings a quenchless, burning sensa- tion, whence the Brazilians call it ‘fire ant,” The South American Indians require their young men to undergo the ordeal of the Tocan
A A FIERY ORDEAL. — 23
deiros, or fire-ants, before they can be known as warriors, or recognized as braves. <A pair of mittens are made of the bark of the palm tree, long enough to cover the arms above the elbows, and are filled with the Tocandeiros, The candidate for warlike honor must put his hands into these bags of living fire, and wear them while he makes the round of the village, and dances a jig’ at every pause. During this march he must wear a smiling face, and chant a kind of song so loud as to be heard above all the noise his companions may make upon rude horns and drums. He must not, by word, action, or look, show any sign of the torture which he endures; if he should, he will be the ridicule of his tribe, and even the maidens will refuse to know him. When the round of the village is complete, he must pause before the chief with swifter dance, and louder chant, until he falls from exhaustion, and the burning gauntlets are removed. Then he has won his right to carry a spear with his tribe.
A species, /. legionis, attacks the nests of
24 ABOUT ANTS.
some of the large burrowing ants. They arrange themselves for this purpose into two bands; one set dig into the ground and take out pellets of earth, while the others receive the pellets and carry them away. They will thus sink a hole ten or twelve inches, and always succeed in opening the nest. The ma- terials they pull to pieces and carry home, as well as the inmates. The community is in wonderful discipline. Each ant knows _ his place, and attends to his business.
The species &. erratica, is blind. The eyes of the other varieties are very small, but in the Blind Ant they are absolutely wanting, not showing even a trace. They have, however, some means of knowing light from darkness, for they are very uneasy when brought into the light.
They are wonderful builders, constructing long galleries through which they travel. If a gallery be broken into, the soldiers are seen slowly coming out, and opening their large jaws as if they would bite something. If not
THE DRIVER ANTS | 25
disturbed, they retire into the gallery, and soon the workers come and repair the breach. These galleries are built upon the surface of the earth, and do not penetrate the soil.
Some Ants make their nests in trees, hang- ing them from the boughs, like the wasps. One of these carries its abdomen in the air, hanging over its back, and has acquired the uncouth name Crematogaster, or ‘‘ hanging-belly.” Another is called by travelers the Green Ant, CEcophylla virescens. The name signifies a house and a leaf, and is given because it makes its hanging nest of dried leaves. When dis. turbed, the Ants come pattering down upon the man below like rain-drops; seeking for spots which they can wound, and having a special faculty for finding their way down the | neck. :
A tribe of Ants somewhat similar to the Evitons of South America, is found in Africa, and is called Bashi Kouay, or Driver <Ant, Anemma arcens. It is the dread of all animals, from the leopard to the smallest insect. It
26 ABUUT ANTS.
marches through the forest in lines about two inches broad, and of incredible length. One writer asserts that he has seen a column of these =nsects continue passing a single point, at good speed, for twelve hours. Officers march along the line and maintain order. If the advance guard come to an open place, not shaded by trees, they build a covered way, or tunnel, of dirt moistened with their saliva. If there are sticks and leaves on the ground, they fill up only the spaces which are exposed, for the direct rays of the sun kill thom very quickly, If a stream crosses their path, they make a bridge of themselves, over which the whole pass. First a single Ant swings himself from the branch of a tree which overhangs the water. Then another crawls over him, and hangs from his feet. Others follow until a living chain is formed which reaches to the water, and rests upon it. Then the wind or the current wafts the free end of the chain about until it touches the opposite shore, and the crossing is complete. If one chain bridge
BRIDGES OF ANTS. 27
is insufficient, others are made alongside. It is asserted that the bridge is even made tubu: lar, and that the army marches through it.
When the Ants get hungry, the long line stops marching by the flank, as soldiers would say, that is, following each other in line, and moves like an army in line of battle, devouring every thing in its way. The black men run for their lives. In avery short time a mouse, a dog, a leopard, or even a deer, is overrun, killed, eaten, and only the bones are left. When they enter a house, they clear it of every living thing. If a fowl is the victim, they dig out the feathers by the roots, and then pull the flesh to pieces, fastening their strong pincers into it, and never failing to bring away the piece. |
A white hunter killed an antelope, and brought it to a native village. In the night he felt himself terribly bitten, and roused his attendants. The whole village was attacked by a column of the Bashi Kouay, which was attracted by the smell of the meat. The
23 ABOUT ANTS.
natives protected themselves by making circles of fire and standing inside. Before morning the insects had eaten every thing they could get, and had traveled on.
During the abundant tropical rains the Drivers run together ard form themselves into balls, vary- ing in size, but usually about as large as those used in the game of ball. These balls of ants float upon the water until the land appears again, and the insects can go about their busi- ness. The natives try to destroy them by mak- ing fires over and about their nests. This does not accomplish much, for the cunning ants escape before the heat becomes too great, and will be found hanging in festoons upon the neighboring trees, and crossing from one to another by their chain bridges.
These ants are black, with a tinge of red. They have enormous heads, equaling about one third of their entire length. The jaws are sharply curved, and cross each other when closed, so that if the ant has fixed itself, its hold can not be loosened unless the jaws are
AGRICULTURAL ANTS. 29
opened. It has no appearance of external eyes., | Dr. Lincecum has observed an Ant in Texas, which has been called the Agricultural Ant, Aita malefaciens. When this species has fixed its home in good dry ground, it bores a cen- tral hole, about which it raises the surface per- haps six inches, making a low mound, which gently slopes to the outer edge. If the spot be wet, the mound is raised higher, and is even fifteen or twenty inches high. ‘The space about the mound is carefully cleaned and smoothed like a pavement. Nothing is allowed to grow in this circle, tavo or three feet from the centre, except a single species of grass. This grass the ants tend with the greatest care, cutting away the weeds within and about it. It thrives under their culture, and bears a crop of seed which resembles, under the microscope, minia- ture rice. When ripe, it is carefully harvested, and carried into the cells, where it is cleaned of the chaff, and packed away. If the grain gets moist in damp weather, it is taken owt and er %,
30 ABOUT ANTS.
dried on the first fair day, and the sound ker- nels are carried back again; those which have sprouted are thrown away. Since men have made farms in that country, and the cattle have eaten down the ant-rice, thus spoiling their crop, the ants have either abandoned the pas- tures, or those communities have perished. They may be found in places where the cattle can not get at their crop of grain.
Dr. Lincecum is confident, after twelve years observation, that these ants plant the grain, take care of it, harvest it, and keep seed for another sowing. Hach year the crop of ant- rice is found growing about their cities, and not a blade of any other green thing can be found within twelve inches of this grain.
“rab
GREENWOOD JUVENILES.
GRACE GREENWOOD is so famous as a delightful and instructive writer of books for young people, that a new edition of her well-known works, named below, will be cordially welcomed, both by the young folks who read the books, and by the older people who are anxious to supply them with reading that is healthful and instructive, as well as fascinating.
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These books were formerly published, printed from these same plates, by well-known Boston publishers, at prices ranging from 75 cents ta $1.25 per volume. My price for the set of eight volumes is $2.50.
See also Exzevir Liprary No. 121, price 2 cents.
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Stories and Ballads.
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