Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-12-23

ing places, heaps of earth rise on the
surface. They become "mounds" on
the plains of Texas. and their con-
struciion by these patient little toilers
have induced travellers to ascribe the
origin of these elevations to an extinct
race of men But ants and species
of ground squirrel and prairie dogs
have executed marvellous monumental
tasks on the surface of the praries.
Ant BEDS IN GUADALUPEC COUNTY.
a farmer. whose granary had been
wholly depleted by ants, in Guadalupe
county, traced the general direction OF
the ant holes. He dug down TO the
great central cavity and depository OF
supplies. He found n cavern four feet
high and seven wide. There were
smaller apartments on either side OF
this storehouse, and others hard by OF
still less height and area. From these
rooms there was an oritice, one ana
a-half inches in diameter, leading
down to water siXty-four feet below
the surface of the prairie. on either
side of this little tunnel, and along its
/ whole course, were repositories OF ant
1 food, ten inches in diameter. These
/ were a foot apart. From the lower
end OF this tunnel, another, straight
as gun-barrel, led back to the earth's
( surface at an angle Of
twenty-five degrees, where ants
emerged at point two hundred yards
from the hole leading perpendicularly
I down to tho great granary. An orillce
! connected with the granary was dis
covered twelve hundred yards in
length. From these holes ants eW rye
In compact columns, and moving an
der the direction, as 1t seemS, OF sin
gle head, they ascend on ito r!Lef
another, completely denucn5 he irst
of foliage before the second isa<l3 ed,
A peach tree is 9Jjlt
STRIPPED WITHIN Az Hot
The Guadalupe farmer c whom |
tell, lost EIGHT bushels of rye ia a sill
gle night. There was not q grain lefl
on or beneath the floor, and this fact OF
perfect cleanliness with which the theft
was perpetrated, enabled u good jus
tice of the peace to acquit loyal son o
Ham, accused of the robbery. The
farmer found his grain in lie ants de
pository, as stated, and then the ac
quilted negro insisted that them pis
; mires should be penitentlarled.'
: NATuRA lrIs,
T | have written alltbis 70 Ia lGce far
a mers and others to amuse leisure hour
by studying the habit nnd modes o
a living of many curious autNais an,
, insects and reptiles and lf that ar
!. peculiar TO Texas. Of tits rar
i book might be write sent
. snake having four leEs wa
caught climbing Mt. llnffA Aus
tin, 10 the editor of the lnpNsAc Sci
ence Monthly. The spaR ha2 wen
q ty-inches long, and its le'e which
h it ran with marvellous n ~ wer,
h two and half inches Il gth. /
r was a most vicious rep 9's nna2
e ed naturalists. "Oposspu axe ther
4 having shells in whib 0leY en-
If sconce themselves Ike torRplns
e and peccaries and MEXICAN lions, m
v beautiful birds of which ornitholog
a tells nothing. ] am perspa0rd thu
(. when the philosophers of the smith
d sonian institution read OF these TACT
y they will send your corr aspondsat d
,e the head of grand commission I
p gather facts affecting local natural III
" tory, and that the COUNT will lsar
80 at last that Texas produce qlaQuped
IS and bipeds and fauna oil all desert,
:. ,ions quite as wonderful as fence-cu
rs tiers and Comanches, and that the Oh
81 Alcalde should add several chapters t
r. his unique book description of Ill
H. mighty commonwealth.