The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-22

LOT air MARKING the tTaiiS dUVfts
Speaking of these curious insects TO an
old-timer he called them doodle bugs,"
and confidently asserted that il any one
were to sit down and cry doodle bug" for
FIVE minutes the owner OF the euphonious
name would come out. 80 companion and
l sat talor-fashion for half hour with our
most melodious accents appealing to "doo-
die bug" but it didn't doodle, but went
right on snatching ants into the bowels of
the crater.
Ants are of all sizes, all colors and two
smells. The common disagreeable od0r
is from the oak, and the presence OF one Of
that kind of ants can be detected by it two
feet away. IT, by accident, one gets into
the cooking it tastes the same. tribe OF
pale transparent red ants has the fragrance
OF lemon balm. 1t rarely invades the house
and have been unable to find Its home
Whatever the relationship or the various
tribes of ant breakers may be their
food tastes are as dissimilar as the tastes If
different races OF humanity. Two tribes
overrun the sugar barrel and burrow 10 The
Jelly glasses-a small black ana smaller
red ant A small black. exactly ths size
and shape Of the sugar ant. cares only Tor
meat and potatoes O hers again, dupli-
Gates of these black ard red families. never
enter the house at all and never work In
daylight. They come from a thia crack IN
the ground after twilight anu seek cover
before dawn.
a yellow ant not one-eighth Of an inch
long feasts on cheese and bread and sweets,
and if the s.oreroom be built level with the
ground this tribe will find quarters UNDER
meath and stay with the provisions all
winter. All the other tribes retreat to their
underground caYerns or tree hollOwS with
the first Indictment weather and are not seen
again until the rainy season is over. Ihey
are fine scavengers, but weary the person
neryouslv inclined with their restless actv v
ity. All sense of repOSe is destroyed Ia
watching them skurrying hither and thither.
To get rid of these pests you try every
means recommended. First. the cans OF
water under each table leg You watch the
ants climb up the smooth tin to the waters
edge. At sight OF the water there is little
accommodating, then rear ant butts against
his neighbor in front and throws him into
the water. Another and another OF the
foremost are pushed in until the surface is
covered with them. each doing his best to
swim ont. Some are successful, but there
are still enough left to drown and shore
mechanic mounts one and paddles around
until he collects and links them together to
form bridge from can to table leg. The
maraudlng army then passes over.
Then you throw out the water and tie
rags saturated with coal oil around the legs.
THIS answers until the oil evapOrates.
Finally you put each table-leg into a can Of
buhach, and that is best of all, as IL d oes
not have to be renewed until dust particles
or cobwebs have formed on top of the pow
der, which may not happen in a season.
Now. If you feel secure you reckon with
OHt your hosts. for as soon as the lamps are
lighted a myriad of flying ants enter Not
the white winged ants of the tree colonies,
but great tat red fellows. which stretch out
an inch long to the tip of the wing.
Some ants ha We the sense of smell, if not
all. Hang a piece Of fresh meat fifty feet
outside of their usual haunts and within ten
minutes It is 2 Seething black mass.
Sometimes. like life of a higher plane.
they have Illusions OF the senses. | put an
artificial bunch of currants in my bed not
knowing Of an ant inside the room. In half
an hour my bed was swarming with the
small black ants.
Among all the varieties there is none
which attacks man. as IN Arizona. 1Ou
may lie in the fields all day and have them
crawl all around aud over you and never be
bitten. but should You sit or lean upon one
he tses deep and hard.
There is an insect nearly an inch long,
resembling and shaped like a bee, with
brilliant fuzzy Of various huas, when bites
cattle and horses in the hoof pOiSonously.
II a procession Of ants meets such fellow
in their trail, they stand erect ON their hind
legs until he has passed. either through
fearing damage or adOring homage.
Even a rambling article like this would
scarce do justice 10 this region without
mention of taTantulas and trapdOoT spiders,
The country is full Of them-black and hairy,
brown and hairy, and striped Ike brown
leghorn chicks. l have severed two with
shovel ami found nothing within the body
but a mass of corruption. They are not
aggressive, but fight upon provocaton.
They are great homebodies for eleven
months of the year October brings them
out in force. It is nothing uncommon
at all TO find a few within the
house during that MONTH and it
is useless to try to keep them ont of the
ordinary miners cabin or even more pre-
tentious house if ii be lined and papered.
AS they always seal their uwn door upon
leaving IL they IT'D IL open on return by
moistening the gum. They get inside ola
house by making slit in the lining, and
after getting inside they carefully seal it,
going out again when they get ready in the
same way.
friend caught one and Put il inside a
shallow glass TO examine ii closely. Shortly
afterward it was gone, greatly TO her sur
prise. for she had pasted heavy f0OIScap
paper over the top, and there ii still was. as
tight and as perfect apparently As when
she put it Oh. But when she examined il
with a microscope she found the spider had
made slit large enough TO pass out, and
then sealed it from the outside. 1t was a
fine piece OF work.
Once upon a time, ms story books run, l
bought two pounds of orris root one pow
dered. one in the lump. and put the pack
ages AWAY III idCQuS Gu winch
were all but alright. The root of the Flor
entine orris Is a LtlIiputian sphinx, and the
roOtlets which grow from II leave lot of
knobs when cut of.
Years Rfterward my room was filed with
very wee black insects with backs as hard
as a sGft-shelled almond. and as glossy as
satin. Apparently they were not destructive
and when crushed bad n 0 GiSagreeable Odor.
So | TOOK no means TO exterminate them.
One day when | wanted some orris powder
to make scentsachets / found Ii lumpy and
tried to sift it. Nothing went through the
sieve. so / put IL on aper and rolled ii with
u rollng-pin. Presently there was an In
definite cracking on the paper and up
heavals OF the powder which on eXamina-
tion were made by an infinitesmally small
white worm. The powdered Orris was a
mass OF c0coons made of the powder and
gummed with the spittle of the worm,
shaped like a silk cocoon. but not larger
than pin head In crushing these with
the Ioiling-pin the worm was e-caping. All
the srhinxes' heads had the roOtIet knobs
eaten out of them till they resembled small
pOx convalescents From the chrysaldes
were evolved my little black bug.
Thinking | had made a great discovery
fastened with a bottle full of material TO
Berkeley and eagerly narrated It's history
10 Professor Higsrd, cut the subject was
an old and familiar one TO him, although he
was glad to get the specimens 10 find if they
had been acciimated IN the United States.
For the 0TTs OF commerce is not from our
indigenous flag or fleur de luce but is
native OF Florence, and frequently after
leaving port for America a whole cargo has
TO be thrown overheard on account of the
breaking out OF this insect. which means a
ship infected at sea.
In the Fresno foothills there is no sub
stance, native or manufactured. that is not
a prey to deyOurlDg moths. flaXSeed put
away IN covered tin can was presently
mass of eocoons similar in size to the orriS-
powder c0cooDs, gummed with the jelly Of
the seed beyond recognition.
Silk spun by constructive moths and sup
posed 10 be free from consuming moths
depredati0ns shared the same fate as bur-
lap saeks-it was fairly riddled to pieces.
In the late fall q vagaboud swarm of
honey bees settled On the under side Of a
decaying branch of oak. They had about
fnir h.,d fhair ho fulnlun nf 10