Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-08-01

without mouth and tongue, but he has moi
the power of mastication, as he has neither
jaws or teeth. They seem TO communicate
by the strokes of their antennH, rs any
one can observe.
The peculiar form OF their mouth oil
course interests us, rs to their food. As
all are aware, they nre very fond of sweets
and they also eat insects, and succulent
vegetation sometimes. This, of course, is
sucked into their mouths and swallowed
direct Their love of sweet, in an instinc-
tive manner, has led them not only to Gull
tivate the acquaintance of the Aphides,
known as plant lice, but to actually take
care of their eggs and rear them, furnish
ing proper food for their young Aphides.
as we do for our cattle. They even take
them up bodily and carry them to their
pastures, and frequently remove them
from one leaf to another. Their care is
repaid by the sweet emulation from the
two little tubes upon the back of the plant
louise, which honey-dew is greedily eaten
by the ants. But with their bread they
need meat, and care for themselves also in
that direction. They seem to have an in
teresting friendship for Il species of grass
hopper that they encourage to live in their
nests, but when he dies he needs no burial,
as they at once eat his remains. This
grasshopper lays its eggs in the ants nest
where they enjoy the proper warmth, and
are thus also protected from the wet, and
when young find shelter there, also, from
the inclemency of the weather; but like
our hospitality to the brute, it is purely IL
selfish act.
1t has been said of ants that they are
industrious, storing food for winter
Nothing is farther from fact, as they
need no food. When the thermometer is
below freezing they are torpid, and when
the thermometer is below forty degrees
they eat very little, even when tempted by
the most delicate morstl. In warm coun-
tries they are active the entire year.
War is their pastime, and their workers
are many times captured from foreign
tribes, and you may frequently find three
or four varieties of slaves in the same
ant-hill, as the red, gray and black varie-
ties. Their forays are usually in mid
summer, and in the hottest part of the
day. The declaration of war seems to be-
made by the females, and they march out
in good order, but in great numbers,
marching over every obstacle they may
meet to the dwelling Of their enemy. As
sentnels are always posted outside, those
are first alarmed. This alarm is passed
inside, and the sentinels fall desperately
upon the enemy. They fight by biting off
each others limbs, or give cuts in which
the Formic poison is injected. Should the
foraging party be successful they enter the
passages in the dwelling of their van
pushed enemy. They there take the larvae
and carry them trlumphantly homeward,
where they are reared as slaves. If they
are defeated in their attack they are har-
assed in their retreat, and their own
dwelling is foraged in the same manner,
They. however, treat their slaves very
kindly, never seeming to abuse them, and
they seem very fond of their masters.
Though ants are seldom tolerated about
dwellings, they are by no means formid-
abblc enemy. Besides two claws on each
foot, the soles of the feet are provided with
cushions which supply glutinous fluid
which enables them to walk over quite
smooth surfaces, but rs the claws cannot
aid them, such surfaces, if perpendicular,
or nearly so, Can be defended from all dep.
with chalk or any other powdery
substance, or by wet. As powders affect
their respiration, rs with other insects of
this class, they are usually etfectual. Boil
ing water is fatal to their homes, and if a
dipper full is poured on an ant hill those
not killed will leave ut once, never to re-
turn. Decoctions of tobacco, arsenic or
corrosive sublimate, sprinked in their re-
sorts, will even protect sweets from them,
il they have TO pass over the place so
sprinkled. Cyanide of potassium kills
about as soon as touched by their antennn,
OF feet.
Ants have numerous enemies among the
insect tribe, and though in numbers they
are able to destroy most insects, many
fall victims in such encounters.
When victorious they eat their enemies.
Birds and some quadrupeds prey upon
them. They are, in .1any countries, very
beneficial, by removing all animal re-
mains, which they are enabled from their
great numbers to do very quickly, and
they everywhere eat and destroy the eggs
of many insects that are injurious to vege.
tation. The garden toad is one of their
greatest enemies, and he can often he seen
at evening watching the door of their
habitations, and catching with his tongue
every one that shows himself. lie is
sometimes. however. attacked hv then, IN