The Penn's Grove record., 1888-10-13
NATURES
How an Army of Ants Disposed of
an Extraordinary Large
Centipede.

How an Army of Ants Disposed OF
an Extraordinary Large
Centipede.
We were travelling In the land of
teeming prOdlgious life, Central Amer
lea, and were camped in a glade Dor
dering a 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 adj
mire, but that we were driven by a sud
den shower to take shelter in u deSer-
ted shed, OF house, left probably by
some planter who had migrated to an
other spot-a not unusual casa.
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 it ap.
peared to us. issuing from Il hole in the
ground close up under the wall. midway
between a crack In the wall and the
right-hand corner. In another minute
1t 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 a
snake. Every one started at the bare
thought.
We watched it at a respectful dis
lance. No, it was a huge centipede,
fully eighteen inches long. The whole
party were instantly on their feet t.
give it chase and knock it over, when
some one uttered a note of surprise,
and invited us to stop and examine its
mode OF progress. l should explain
yynt Elm ,natrraI nnit .f fhIG FAIfIla
when in movement is ~serpentine; Its
multitgdinous legs rising and falling in
QUICK succession, like a series OF small
waves. very pretty too look at when
near. This creature did not seem TO
use its le9s 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
lmpelled up the wall, not by a string,
but by the serried ranks of thousands
Of little black ants trlnging the sides.
which they showed up by slantlng then
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 admira-
ton of our whole party, No set of
human beings could do it better. They
had already gained half way up the
hut. On went the procession, swift
and smooth, without a break or pause,
till they came to the crack i'll the wall.
The break here measured a full inch i'll
width; they could not bridge it over.
They halted, and |, moved by the most
intense curiosity, mounted a stool to
watch. 1t was then | discovered that
on the back of.the dead reptile were
stationed soma half-dozen loose ants.
running hlther and thither, in a state
of greatest agitation and excitement,
looking down Oh tine 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; Will ont
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 c~ommander-in-
chief, and though not differing from
the Others in torn and color, as far 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 | 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
b%udge-the s~tout-hearted little Great
ures held on as lmmOvabie a a post;
this for Tome fraction of a minute.
Then at some sign of command, lnvisi-
Bile and unintellglble 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 econ
menced their march upward; only this
time it took a sioplng 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 it; 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 skiliful combination of forces-of
rare generalship on the part of the
commander worthy of a human hero
but an obedience on tine part of the
workers that might rival the best
drilled army in the world; and we can
not but recognize in those small Great
ares an amount of intelligence winch
may rank on a par with many nations
and people which we Call human.