Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-08-05
Eccentric Ants.

LII generally chooses Tor the site OF its
home an area Of four or five feet square of
sandy soil in the vicinity of shrubs and
flowers. The colony that settles IN this
space is, as usual, composed of three Or
ders, the males, females and neuters, or
workers. The last order is divided into
three classes, viz: the yellow nurses and
sfeeders the yellow honey-makers, and
the black guards and purveyors. The
guards are constantly on duty parading
around the borders Of the square, and pro-
tecting it from the intrusion of any insect
enemy, such as wasp, spider or beetle.
While one body of the guards are thus
employed as soldiery, another division is
busy in fOraging for flowers and aromatic
leaves. These, when found and cut into
manageable bits, are brought home to the
nets and deposited in heap in the center
Of the space. This accomplished the
round of duties devolving upon the guards
and purveyors seems to be concluded
Now the little yellow nurses and feed
ers take up their line of labor by bearing
the sections Of leaves and flowers from the
common heap down into the galleries and
cells of the nest underground. The first
hall, entered by an aperture near the
southeast corner of the square, leads to
small excavation, across which is spread
web like that spun by spider, but divid-
ed into squares about One-fOurth of an
inch across. In the center of each one of
these squares sits a yellow honey maker, a
helpless prisoner by reason of its enormous
| abdomen or hOney-sack, which is distended
| to twenty times the size of the rest of its
| body, and renders locomotiOn impossible
| The nurses and feed rs wait upon the
honey makers, keeping them constantly
! supplied with flowers and pollen From
| this material the honey-makers distil
honey by some process analogous to that
of the bee, filling their abdomens with the
| delicious sweet until there is room for no
! more What disposal is then made of the
| honey is as yet unknown. 1t is suggested
| that the honey-makers may be killed when
| their sacks are once filled; and again it is
| surmised that they discharge their honey
into prepared receptacles, and continue
the process of elaboration indefinitely.
| As in the case of bees, the store of honey
serves as food for the colony.
The Mexicans are very fond of this ant
honey, considering it a delicate article of
| food. They also manufacture it into an
agreeable drink and use it as a remedy for
| disease.
| The EcSt071s are the most ferocious of all
the vast tribe of ants. They feed upon
other animals and spend their lives roam
ing about in great companies like bands OF
armed and blood-thirsty pirates, destroy.
ing every defenseless creature that comes
in their way. To Mr.. Bates, who spent
eleven years Investigating the fauna Of the
! Amazons, we are indebted for much of our
knowledge Of this interesting genus. He
] discovered ten different species in South
| America, eight of which were then new to
science. The giant among the EcitOns is
| the r.. rapar, the largest class of its work
ers measuring half an inch in length
| This species march in single file when out
on maraudipg expeditions and do moi
travel in very large companies. They
| chiefly plumber the nests Of a bulky and
defenseless ant of the genus Fomica, and
are generally seen on their excursions
| laden with the mangled bodies of theil
prey.
The Ecit0n lega0nas, a much smaller
species, was found by Mr.. Bates only on
the sandy wastes of Santarem. When bent
on raid it moves in broad columns made
up of thousands of individuals One
morning Mr. Bates observed an army OF
these little bandits eagerly at work ravag
ing the nests of large species Of the
F0rma5c@. They had run mines into the
ground from eight to ten inches in depth
and in this way had reached the habita
tons Of their victims. Fast as they could
spring they were now bringing out the
| dead and dismembered remains of the
! Formica, and distributing the spoil
among the carriers for transport to theil
own depots. Some were engaged lifting
out the bodies, others were tearing them
in pieces of portable size, while others
again seized each as much as it could
bear and hurried off with the home bound
| column.
| Mr.. Bates himself dug into the nests of
the Formica with trowel, being anxious
to examine the condition Of things. The
Ecatons took advantage of his assistance,
rushing into the breach he had made
snatching every grub, cocoon and Formica
exhumed, and even tearing them from Mr.
Bates fingers, SO that he had difficulty in
securing a few entire specimens. The
regular system of cooperation upon which
the Ecitons labored in this work of muir
der and rapine excited the amazement OF
their keen eyed observer. In about two
hours the nests of the FormicP were COM
pletely rifled, and the body of freebooters
retired to their hive, which was situated in
the base of termitarium sof the white
| ants.
The Ecitoa hanaata and the Il. drepas
0l17tora are the species most commonly met
with in the forests Of the AmaZOns, aad sc
much resemble each other that it is hard
to distinguish them. Yet the one species
keeps entirely separate from the other, the
two having no interest in common, and
| never intermin rlinC They travel IN