Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-15
An ARMY Of Ants.

Says the author of Mission Lite /:
cone does not mind ants out of doors.
) only when they enter your houses
lat they become real nuisance; even
the jagman, or yakman Gas the negroes
call the warrior or hunting ant being
such for the time, though his visits are
most beneficial in their egects. Those
ants take over the whole or part of
your house. They will not bite you if
You do not modest them nor obstruct
their operations but they clear out
and devour every centipede, scorpion,
cockroach. etc, within that part of
the building they have marked fer
their days work. They overhaul the
nests which the marabuntas have built
under your floors, caves or galleries,
and devour their young. The old
ones fly everywhere, wild with rage at
this onslaught, and will sting you saw
agely if you then come in their way.
I know nothing more beautiful and
perfect in the habits of insects than
the military order and discipline main
tanned in all the marches and opera
tions of those invincible warrior ants.
In all open Caribi house I was sitting
one day reading, being quite alone,
for we had found no inhabitants there,
and 1 had sent my Arawak crew in va
rious directions to search for them.
A sharp bite caused me to look
at the assailant. It was "yak-
man which had given my ankle nip,
just to see what it was made of. A
score of his comrades were running up
my legs, and [ had to hasten out of
the house, which was by that time
| alive with them, and brush them off.
This Nffoofol
and L had then a fine opportunity of
observing the tactics of this predatory
horde. One immense column came
pouring through the forest, marching
along the ground and winding its way
around the roots of the trees. The
| captains, whose heads and forecaps are
twice as big as those of the rank and
file, were marching at intervals along
| side the column and directing their
| operations. Just as the column APP
| preached the house it divided into
three; one came round on the right
| flank, another on the left, while the
main attack, which had driven me out,
was from the centre. No insect with
out wings could escape them. Even
those able to fly, as the great South
American cockroach, seemed paralyzed
| with fear, and trying to hide them
selves. were caught under the troolie
thatch. Down they fell, covered with
ants; and hundreds more on the ground
threw themselves upon them, until
they were completely hidden by liv-
ing mass. Resistance ceased, and the
work of cutting up and dra gging off
| commenced. In two hours the ants
had cleared out the whole building. It
was then about 4 o'clock, when, as if
by some recognized signal, they gath
cred again into three columns, falling
by the same routes into one main
body, which continued its long wind
ing march through the woods. When
they rest for the night, they cling to-
gether in an immense cluster. I have
seen them in the corner of a room
where | had to sleep, reaching from
the floor nearly to the ceiling, and
from one to two feet thick. In the
midst Of these living masses are their
eggs, or pup;e, which they most care
fully guard from cold and damp, and
| which are Matched there.