Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-02
THE DRIVER ANTS OF WEST
AFRICA.

u
man said to the children and youth of
his generation; "Go to the ant, thou
sluggard, consider her ways, and be
wise" Now, though 1 do not believe
we have any sluggards" among the
active American boys and girls who
read the New York Observer, L think
they may attain considerable wisdom
by considering the ways of some of the
ants of West Africa. These little in
sects are very small, and yet so de-
structive to life and property that the
natives OF the country are sometimes
obliged to take their wives and children
and leave their houses to a band of
these visitors, who drive everything
away before them. What would hap
pen if they remainedP Why, hundreds
and thousands of black ants, of three
different sizes, would march into the
door in a solid column about an inch
wide, ransack every corner, carry of
every bit of meat they could find drive
away the rats, mice, lizards, monkeys
and fowls, and then climb upon the
children, and opening their great wide
jaws, close them with a sudden grasp
of the flesh, fixing in their teeth with
such force that sometimes they can
only be Withdrawn by cutting the body
in two. They would then move their
jaws from side to side till they meet,
and such suffering be caused by their
bites, that, as a great many always
make the attack at once, in a short
time they would kill children, poultry,
sheep and even snakes of the largest
description.
These Visiting Ants" or "Driv-
ers," generally make their visits at
night, climbing on the beds in long
streams, or dropping from the ceiling
with their half-killed prey still grasped
in their jaws A missionary tells MS
that on one occasion his whole school
was thus turned out of doors in the
middle of the night, and he only found
safety and repose by putting all the
feet of the bedsteads into cups filled
with vinegar and making the ceiling so
tight that nothing could get through.
The Drivers live in communities of
many millions in shallow excavations
under the roots of trees, with none of
the mechanical cOntrivances for which
the TernliteS, or White Ants, are cele-
brated. They are a race of robbers,
and live, as robbers do, in caves, hiding
their prey in the loose gravel and
fissures in the ground and crevices in
rocks. In cloudy days and at night
they sally out in a long, steady col
umn, having first sent out small for
aging parties to find out if there is
dead chicken or pig, or some other
dead animal, within their reach. When
the scouts come back again, instead of
rushing at once to the prey, the largest
class, or soldiers" 90 to work and
clear path about an inch wide of
every movable obstruction; dead
leaves, sticks, small stones and
grass are drawn out of the way,
sometimes by an ant not quarter
their size, sometimes by two or three
working together. The next step in the
way of preparation is the construction
of an arehed roof all along the path,
under the shadow of which the work
ers may carry off their prey. If it is
sunny morning, this arch is composed
of dirt cemented together by fluid
from their mouths, or if grass, sticks,
etc., are in the path, these are Joined
with the muddy cement, much labor
being thus saved. The object of this
arch is to shield the workers from the
heat of the African sun, whose power,
especially if increased by reflection, is
instantly fatal to them. Indeed, if they
are delayed in their work till late in
the morning, they will often break
ranks and rest under the shade of
weeds and bushes till the cool of even
ing again calls them out 10 complete
their work. In cloudy days the arch is
curiOusly composed of the bodies of the
rFanl~r ksa IL
their long legs firmly in the ground
and grasping each other by the Jaws
and projecting antenn@ till an arch of
many ants in width is formed. This
network is instantly broken if an
alarm is given, the soldiers forming
themselves in two lines of defense on
each side of the workers, who 90 to
and fro under the protecting shadow,
carrying the heavy burdens of food,
which still another class--having first
pulled out the feathers-are busily
cutting from the chicken, or whatever
it may be, with the regularity and or
der of an army under strict military dis
cipline.
Sometimes the inhabitants lose pa
tience with these troublesome and fero-
cious neighbOrs, and attempt to get rid
of them by burning out their home,
! Many thousands are thus killed, but the
rest Immediately set forth on a migra.
ton to more comfortable quarters in
their usual regular and methOdical man
ner, the smallest class carrying the
baby ants and the provisions safely
slung under their stomachs, and the
! larger marching as a body. guard on
each side, or forming the protecting
arch above their heads. While prepar-
ing for this migration, they take refuge
on tree trunks, ETC., climbing up on
each others backs in a very singular
manner.
The missionary before alluded to says
of one of these scenes; From the
lower limbs -four feet high) were fes-
toOns or lines of the size of a mans
thumb, reaching TO the plants and
ground below, consisting entirely of
these insects. One of these saw in
the act of formation, ant after ant
coming down from above, extending
their long limbs and opening wide their
jaws, gradually lengthening out the
living chain till it touched the broad
leaf of Gamma coccinea below. 1t now
swung to and fro in the wind, the ter
minal ant meanwhile endeavoring to
attach it by his jaws and legs to the
leaf; not succeeding, another ant Of the
same class (the very larges) was seen
to ascend the plant, and, fixing his hind
legs firmly to the leaf, reach forth his
forelegs, open wide his jaws and grasp
his companion above, thus completing
the most curious ladder in the world,
upon which others were constantly as
cending and descending, and holding
free and ready communication with the
upper and lower portions of the mass" !"