Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-10-10
NATURES WONDERS.
How an Army OF Ants Disposed of
an Extraordinary Large
Centipede-

We were travelling in the land of
teeming prodigious life, Central Amer
ica, and were camped in a glade Dor
dering grand old virgin forest, so
marvelously rich in strange forms and
colors of vegetable life that We would
have fingered long IN this spot to ad-
mire, but that We were driven by a sud-
den shower to take shelter in deser-
ted shed, or house, left probably by
some planter who had migrated to an
other spot-a not unusual case
There we sat, for want of something
better TO do, commenting and surmis-
ing, when Suddenly our attention was
caught by some living thing, as 1t ap-
peared to us, issuing from hole in the
ground close up under the wall. midway
between a crack In the wall and the
right-hana corner. In another minute
II had beat upward, and was taking the
direction up the wall. Out it came,
longer and longer We thought it
would never stop unfolding. Was it
snake. Every one started at the bare
thought.
We watched 1t at respectful dis
tance. No, it was huge centlpede,
fully eighteen inches long. The whole
party were instantly on their feet ID
give it chase and knock il over, when
some one uttered a note of surprise,
and invited US to stop and examine its
mode or progress L should explain
that the natural gait of this reptile
when in movement IS serpentine; Its
multitudinous legs rising and falling in
| quick succession, like series OF small
waves, very pretty too look at when
near. This creature did not seem 10
use its legs at all, but slid up the wall
| as if pulled by some invisible string.
| Every one exclaimed with surprise,
but on closer inspection tho riddle was
solved.
The centipede was dead, but WAS
| Impelled up the wall, not by string,
but by the serrled ranks OF thousands
| of little black ants frInging the sides.
which they showed up by slantlng their
bodies as we ourselves should under the
circumstances; also at the head, which
they were pulling, and at the tail, which
they were pushing. And all this with
a unanimity of aim and action, and an
intelligence OF the work they had un-
dertaken, and all in such perfect and
beautiful order, that 1t won the admlra-
tion of our whole party, No set of
human beings could do it better. They
had already gained half way up the
and smooth, without a break or pause,
till they came to the crack in the wall
| The break here measured a full inch in
width; they could not bridge 1t over.
They halted, and /, moved 10y the most
intense curiosity, mounted stool TO
watch. 1t was then l discovered that
on the back of the dead reptile were
stationed some half-dozen loose ants
running hlther and thither, in state
OF greatest agitation and excitement,
looking down on the workers on this
side, and then on the opposite side
then along the body to the head-back
again to the tail and so on; while one
little fellow, not a whit different from
the rest, kept stationary on the extre-
NEST point of the head. He was evil
IDENTIFY the captain and commander-in-
chief, and though not differing from
the others in form and color, as lar as
we could see, yet no doubt was elected
to the position from his superior intel
ligence.
The rent here was so wide, so i'm
possible to get over, that L fully ex-
pected they would have to give up
their booty and let it fall to the ground.
But not a hair's-breadth did they
budge-the stout-hearted little Great
ures held on as ImmOvabie as post;
this for some fraction OF a minute.
Then at some sign OF command, lnvisi-
be and unInteligIble to US, the whole
procession moved backward THAT Is,
downwardl for about the space of an
inch. Then came another halt, and
then again the whole body recon-
menced their march upward; only this
time 1t took siopIng line, parallel with
the crack in the wall, evidently aim
ing at the place where the rent dwin-
died away to nothing. And they
reached it, too. They crossed 1t; they
came to the top, and we saw the body
of the dead centipede bending over the
highest point of the wall, as it gradu-
ally disappeared under the rafters
which supported the roof.
The whole scene was an impressive
one, for the movement showed not only
a skillful combination OF forces-oi
rare generalship on the part of the
commander worthy of human hero
but an obedience on the part of the
workers that might rival the best
drilled army in the world; and We car
not but recognize in those small Great
ares an amount of intelligence which
NAV rank on a par with many nation.
, and people which we call human.