The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-26
ABOUT ANTS.
Their Homes and Their Habits.

Their Homes and Their Habits.
Master Charles X. Bolton, fifteen
years old, contributes the following in
teresting article to the C0ngregatj0nal-
ist. He had no help in writing it. If
other boys would turn their attention to
natural history it might keep them out
of mischief, to say nothing of the in
struction and discipline they would re-
ceive:
Some warm day, when you do not
know what to do, find an ant-hill under
shady tree and watch the little fellows
at their work. This is what l have been
doing. The ring of earth around the
hole, like the wall of q fort, is familiar,
but the most interesting part of their
home is underground. See them drag
the pebbles out OF the hole in the center.
If you could follow it down you would
find the way irregular, and at the end a
number of galleries, each supported by
little pillars of earth. The young ants
are kept on these shelves, and, in fact,
it is their city.
Here the chief men meet to talk over
the matters of the colony. But how can
they talk? Put an ant under the micro
scope and you will see two little pro-
lectures on the head called mandbles.
The ant touches its mandibles to those
of its neighbor, and thus they speak.
Ants are very strong, persevering and
industrious, some working all night. |
have seen an ant carry store three or
four times its size. They are fond of
sweet things. Once | laid piece of
hn1n
it, and although the piece was many
times as large as itself, It lifted the
sugar above its head and started for the
hill. All went well uutil the hill was
reached. 1t would get hold of the sugar
and attempt to drag it up, but when the
first pebble was struck it would roll
over and over. And last, by leveling a
place so as to get start, by the occa-
sional help of Il passing ant, the sugar
was pulled over the hill.
noticed a spider, one day, stop to
rest near an ant-hill. The ants soon
saw him and four or five came out.
They took hold of his legs and swarmed
on his back. He was dragged into the
hole and the rest locked out to help eat
him up. The ants carry their young
out every pleasant day to lie in the sun,
and at the first sight of rain they hurry
them into their house. These little
creatures have good memories and
never forget their friends. If an ant be
taken out of an ant-hill kept for two
months and then put back into the
same hill, it will be received; but if it
be placed in another, it will be killed.
In Texas there is found the "agricult-
ural y ant. These clear place from
weeds and grass for about two feet
around their house. Then they drop
the seed OF kind of grass, whose grain
they like very much. The ants take
care of the young blades, protecting
them from insects, and when the grain
is ripe carry it into their homes. But
what is more peculiar, if the store of
food should become damp during a
rain, it will all be carried out on the first
sunny day and dried, and then brought
back.
One of the most interesting things
about the ant nation is their cows,
which are kept and herded like ours.
Some small insects, called aphides, or
plant-lice, have two little horns on the
abdomen. When the ant is hungry it
touches these horns with its mandibles,
and the aphis gives out a drop of sweet
fluid of which the ant is very fond.
These aphides live on the sap of trees.
The ''miner'' ant, which is very timid,
makes little room under ground for
its flock. The colony which has the
most COWS is considered the wealthiest.
In South America great armies of
ants start out plundering everything
they meet. Even horses and men flee
before them; they 90 alt through n
house, killing and eating up everything
that they can find. W hen they come
to a river, they climb upon a limb that
hangs over the water. One ant holds
on to the end of the branch; another
takes hold of the first, aud so on until
they have formed long string. They
hang in this way until the end, floating
on the water, is carried across by the
wind or current. Vixen it touches the
opposite shore an ant catches hold of a
stick or weed and so makes a living
chain. On each side of this chain an
other row is formed, so that the bridge
is three ants wide. Over it the whole
company pass. tits even said that these
bridges are sometimes made hollow OF
tubular, SO that the young ants may be
| protected from the sun. When the wet
season comes and the ground is covered
with water, the ants form themselves into
balls, as large as an orange, and float
around until it goes down.
In some parts of the world there are
'redn or warrior ants. These dc
not like to work, and are not able
to feed themselves. Huber, the
| aG&uralist, to prove this, put number