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ae THE

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Be A Semi-Weekly Magazine.

A :
eset ae FEBRUARY 13, 1883. ee
S _ [Entered at the Post-Office, New York, as Second-Class Matter.]
i oA Half Hour in Natural

1
‘

History.

By S. H. PEABODY, Pu. D.
Regent Illinois Industrial University.

©

Sten atee ete caver ates
' ;

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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.

ew

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

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