Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-05-11
.,.xa. Gazette Il Virginia Advertiser
MAD ANTS.

MAD ANTS.
Don Francisco Vaasquez informed me, 10
1870, that he had d powder which made the
up,s mad. so that they bit and destroyed each
other. He gave me little OF it, and it proved
10 be corrosive subimate. [ made several
trials of ii, and found it most etlcaclous 10
turpog large column Of ants. A little of it
srrlnkIed across one of their paths in dry
weather has most surprising effect. As soon
!, one Of the ants touches the white powder, it
commences to run about wildly, and to attack
any other ant Ii comes across lu couple OF
hours round balls of the ants will be found
birlup each other, and numerous individuals
will be seen bitten completely 10 two, while
others have lost some of their legs or antenLG.
News of the cOmmotion is carried to the for
,nlcarium, aud huge fellows, measuring three
quarters Of au luch IN length, that only come
out of the nest during Il migration or au at
tack on the pest of one OF the working columns,
are seen saliug dowo with "a determined air,
as If they would soon right matters. As soon,
hOHever, as they have touched the su5llmate.
all their stateliuess leaves them; they rush
about; their legs are seized hold OF by some
Of the smaller auts already affected by the
poison; and they themselves begin to bite,
Of fresh balls Of rabid auts. The subIi-
mate can only be used eff. ctivey in dry wealth
er At Colon found the Americans using coal
tar, which they spread across their paths when
any Of them led to their gardens l was told
that the Indians prevent them from ascending
youug trees by tying thick wisps Of grass with
the sharp poiots downward, rouod The stems.
The ants cannot pass through the wisp, and do
not find out how to surmount it, getting COD
fused among the numberless blades, all leading
downward. | mention these different plans OF
meeting and frustrating the attacks Of the ants
at some length, as they are one OF the greatest
scourgcs OF tropical America, and 1t has been
TOO readily supposed that their attacks cannot
be warded off. | myself was enabled, by using
some of the means mentioned above, to sue
cessfully cultivate trees and vegetables oil which
the ants were extremely tood. Notwlthstand-
ing that these ants are 50 common throughout
tropical America, and have excited the atten-
ton of nearly every traveller, there still remaius
much donbt as 70 the use to which the leaves
are put. Some Daturallsts have supposed tia
they use them directly as food; others that they
roof their upder-g ground uests with them.
believe that the real use they make OF them
is a manure, on which grows minute species
Of tungus, on which they teed ; that they are
in reality mushroom growers and eaters.
POPULAR ERRORS "A writer in The Field
says: "a popular illusion about apes aud mon
keys in general have more than once already
brought to notice. refer to their alleged imi-
taliveness, whence the verb to ape,' which [
couteud is founded upon false premises. [ have
seen much of monkeys, both wild and tame, as
have most people, and of many species of
them, aud have kept considerable number
or in with fhorc
allowed their liberty. But admitting, as a mat
ter of course, the high doclity of many iudi
viduas, especially among the Macaci Of the old
world and the Cebl OF the new, | have yet
never remarked single instance of spontaDe-
Gus mitativeness. analogous to what is so re-
Inarkably manifested by savage men-imitation
for limitation sake, without further apparent
object OF course, one will learn from another,
as dogs aud cats will so learn. but could never
discover a tendency to mimicry, in the legitl-
mate acceptation OF the term. | know that
Mr.. Bartlett of the geological Gardens, holds
with me in this opinion, and | could mention
other names that should carry considerable
weight with them; but the notion to the co...
trary is so inveterate that it can hardly Re
ersdicated, and r, mark that DR.. Gray, Of the
British Museum, proposing new generic ap-
pellatlon for chinpauzees, must needs style
them Mimetes, 10 lieu OF Troglodytes, which
was priorIy applied to the bird genius exempli-
he'd by our common wren. Among mauy birds
the disposition to initiate all sorts Of sounds is
highly remarkable, but though the ohimpau-
zeeS, the gibbons, aud some OF the monkeys
also can moduate the voice considerably, still
they do not attempt to initiate any sound what
ever, and maiutain that they are as little dis
posed to mimicry 10 any other sort oil way,
however little this NAV accord with popular
Impression.
RICHNESS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The construction of the English language must
appear most formidable to a foreigner. Ooe
OF them looking at picture of number of
lie was told that flock of ships was called a
H'ck And it was added for guidance iu mas.
,crlrg the iptricacies of our language that "a
hock of girls is called bevy, that bevy of
Wolves is called pack, apd pack of thieves is
ya'Ie'! gaug aud gang of angels is called
hoSt.a host of porpoiscs is called shoal, a shoal
OF buffalo is called herd, and herd of children
Is called troop, aud a troop OF partrdges Is
called covey, aud cuvey of beauties is call.
ed galaxy, ard galaxy Of rufiaus Is called a
horde, and horde of rubbish is called heap,
aud heap of oxen is called a drove, and a
drove of black guards is called a mob, and
Wob of whales is called school, and school
o' ~orshippers is called congregation, aud
congregation Of engineers is called corps, and
acorps o. robbers is called a baud, aud band
ol Ioeu>ts ls called a swarm, aud swarm of
people is called crowd, and crowd of gen
ucioSs is called elite, and the elite of the city 5
thieves aud rascals are called roughs.
REQUISITES FOR WlFE-A wife should
oe anlatle, artless, afectionate. affable, accom-.
pushed; beautiful, benighDg benevolent; ;chaste,
.,aI1S,fnlng, candid. cheerful compaisant, cbari-
aole' civil, constant; dutiful digni6ed: elsga ant,