St. Landry democrat., 1885-09-19
GO TO THE ANT"

The Wonderful Intelligence and Skill of
This Remarkable Insect :
If you have ever had your head ex-
amined the phrenologist would tell you
that it was a very nice thing to have a
good big head. But somebody else
might repeat to you the Wellknown
couplet:
Little head, little wit
Great head, not bit!''
But how is it with the ants, who have
such small heads and great wits?
There IS nothing on earth, except
man, that can surpass the wonderful
devices of those heads, no bigger than
if they belonged to SO many pins.
Watch how they build their tunnels
and cover them in like so many railroad
engineers! See how they stop every
now and then to study out their plans;
how they consider all obstacles and
avoid them; how they use every leaf
and stick and straw to make wall or
roof to their galleries! But who is the
foreman, or 'boss," as men sometimes
say? A new plan is thought of, he goes
to work upon it, the ,others soon adopt
the improvement and help the skilful
inventor. They are all as busy as pos
sible, and yet they work always on one
common plan.
The Queen lays her eggs, the workers
at once take care of them, running
with them from place to place, and al
ways with some end in view; and when
the baby ants come. if you could look
inside any busy little ant-hill, with the
rising OF the sun, you might see these
careful little nurses (for they have real
nurses for their children just as we do),
who live in the upper stories of that
wonderful house, very early astir and
on their way to call their young masters
from down below.
And then you would see them tap
ping them with their antenna, which
look like horns, as much as 10 say:
Come, children, time to get up; don't
you know the sun is up?" and thus
waking them they carry them through
the long galleries that lead to the top
OF the ant-hill, and lay them outside
very carefully that the bright rays of
the sun may warm them and help them
to grow. And they are very careful,
too, not to leave them in the heat of the
sun after the early morning. As soon
as the air gets too warm they carry
them into the rooms near the top where
the rays have penetrated, and where
the warmth can still reach them, and
again further below if they think it best
But the older ants can bear the sun,
and like to feel its rays; and though
they are very Industrious, yet as they
begin to work with the dawn they take
little rest, as people do sometimes in
the heat OF the day, and often lie heaped
together in the sunshine.
Just as long as the baby ants can not
run alone they are dressed like the
young children in the East, or like the
babies which the Indian squaw hangs
behind her back, or on peg in her tent
They have natural swaddling clothes,
for they are wrapped up so tightly in
their laryal covering that no legs can
De seen, only a head and wings, traced
through the transparent skin in which
they are folded. Of course you know
the baby ant begins life in an egg,
which, IN couple OF. weeks, is Matched,
and then the nurses take them in charge,
as we have said, to keep them clean, to
brush and comb and shampoo them,
and very soon they are ready to begin
the next change.
Ii you could only look at these tiny
insects (the nurses) through a micro
scope, You would see on their legs
some very fine soft hairs, which they
use as brushes, and a spur close by,
which, if needful, we may imagine can
do the work of a comb And the sham
pooling is done by working about,
kneading and distending the thin skin
which covers their limbs until it is
ready to open and let them go free.