The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-21
SINGULAR vIsITATIoNs.
Winged Ants Swarm Over Keuka
Lake and cover over Ten Niles Of It's
From a Nen York SUI.

Surface.
From the Neu York Sun.
HAMMoNDsPoRT, Aug. 16.-About $50
o'clock yesterday afternoon fishermen on
Lake Keuka began to be annoyed by hosts of
minute in ects, which they at first supposed
were some species of black fly. The insects
came upon the lake from the southern and
| eastern shores, and in such immense
/ swarms that within a few minutes
after their appearance the surface
! Of the lake Yves covered so thlckly with
| them that for long distances they coLcealed
/ the water completely from view. The
| phenomenon was the more surprislng
/ because insect pests of any kind on heuka
lake had never been known before, even the
| ubiquitous mosquito being comparatively
/ rare These winged visitors drove many
| fishermen from the lake, as they made 1t
difficult to either see or breathe, SO thick did
they settle and fill tn air.
1t was soon discovered that among the
myriads of the nimbie insects we larger
ones, less in humber but app Irently Of
! same family, except that their bodies were
| brown while the o hers were black, and
that their abdomeus were swollen inordl-
nately. The wings Of both species were
nearly white. Closer ms ectlon OF the IN
| sects showed that they we g not flies at all
but winged ants. The bodies of the smaller
| kind were jet black and glistened Ike
polished ebony. the brown ants, whose
bodies were quarter OF an inca long, were
found to be diste ded with eggs, apparently
hundreds being in each ant.
As the insects struggled on the surfac9 of
| the water it was noticed that they gat cred
IN large punches, and it was discovered that
in the center of each group was one OF the
large b own ants, wnIch the small black
ones seemed to be struggling to rescue or
| protect. La rowing through this vast C IL
| lection Of insects the wake OF the boat would
| leave a line on the edges Of which the ants
were heaped together as a plow throws up
the earth from furrOw.
From Ia nmO IdsporC the lake was COW
cred in this way by tne insects from shore
| to shore for a distance of ten miles, and
| whore the RAYS OF the setting sun slanted
upon them they 1ppeare1 on the lake IL
great patches of delicate purple, forming
mos remarkable picture IN combination
with the slrroundi Z see lery. When the
| insects first began to drop down
| upon the lake black BASS were biting freely
along the rocky or and b 1t oms, but. as
! the water became alive with the st juggling
| winged ants, no bait the fishermen tried
could temDt the bass further, but the con-
slant breaking of the water al along the
shores showed painy that this strange
visitation of insect life exactly suited the
! epicurean palates of the ifs J.. Now a
thea wnere the ants had gathered in thi k
| patches on the surface, sometimes an &c
thick or more in depth, and rod or more
in area, some immense a I'd eager black bass
woul shoot from his lurking place and
| sweep upward trough the troubled grou
Of insects, leaping into aggravatlng sight in
| ais sweep, with his great mouth open, aud
leaving wide and sharp-cuC space in the
ma to mark his predaceous course.
OAe of these writhing gr ups of ants
brought great luck to Maj. Gardner of the
famous S lnny Slope and Iuglenook vine
yards He and san reporter were bass
fishi ig off Two-mile Poi It. on the west
sho Of the lake. When the plague of is
| bore down upon them to such an ex ent that
| it forced them to pail for escape from the
annoyance, reeling in their lines as they
| fed, the Majors hook and minnow, at the
end of 200 eet of line, came IN contact with
one of the masses of ants. At the same
instant a big bass shot from the
bott and struck in the
midst of the ants, seeking a
liberal mouthful Of the apparently luscious
food He took the majors blit and hook
in the haul After a Struggle of ten min
utes or more, during the excitement of
which even the swarming ant pests were
forgotten, the fish was landed. He weighed
plu up 81 pounds, the biggest single bass
| CdICQ Oh Ju6 season. HeTedDOuU. IL Ill ~ %
that the skilful handling of the minnow
ght have called that finny prize from his
lair but the weight of probability is that
he only included the minnow Incidentally
in his grab of ants.
This singular flight of ants is reported to
| have extended as far south from here as
Bath, eight miles. PEG lie driving bet veen
the two places were forced to muffi4 their
faces at much discount TT to escape the still
greater ANNOYANCE of the iusec s. T air
was filled with the ants whel the last per-
son vent to bed il Hammondsport last
night. This morning, with the exc p io
of dead ones i'll the lake and about the
lores, not one of the insects was to be seen.
They had disappeared as SUI ldenly and mys-
teriously as they hal co ne.