The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-11-01
WARRIOR ANTS on THE MARCH.
Insects and Reptiles Fleeing for Lifs from
the advancing Horde.
rOmaha Morning Wo..d-Herald.

| TOmaha Morning Woc-d-Herald.
It was in Honduras, re::r the Caribbean
coast. while on Government survey, that
T frsS saw tre warrior ants-those strange
insects which ma rch through the tropical
| forests in armies, attacking eve,y living
creature in tfeir path. One intensely hot
dav. as sat in a hammock under the
| thatched roo, of my ban boo hut, native
came runring in and with excited gestures,
bade me follow him. did sowondering-
ly, and going out into the open, looked IN
the direction he Indicated.
There ! the rolling savanna stretched
| wide black belt extending far b,ick into
deep shadows Of TIE adjacert forest. It
rose and fell with every form alton Of the
ground, and like huge snake, slowly
crept toward the village. THE warrior
ants" explained the native in strange
paths of En- iah and Spanish which [
shall not :::t:Ia,:t to initiate. "TheJ will
soon be Lere," he continued. You had
bette: unite your dogs, OF the ants will kill
them" Acting 1lpon his advice | loosed
my dogs, and, retiring to safe distance,
watched the approach of the warriors. In
countless multituGes they swarmed over
the plain, marching In compacj order like
q well-driled army. Before them sour
ried a heterogeneous mass Of LIZARDS, grass
hoppers. frogs, beetles, and other manner
OF insects and reptiles, in wild scamper
to reach place Of safety.
Presently the advance guard reached ny
hut and disappeared within, then the main
column appeared, and soon the roof, floor,
| walls, and rafters were black with them.
Like TIE soft rustic of dried grass stirred
by gentle breeze came the sound of their
presence in the leaves ofmy tratched roof.
| The sound Increased in loudness as the
rats, mice, lizards, cockroaches, centipedes
and others OF ilk, who had long n-ade
the roof their home, tried vainly to escape.
Some succeeded in getting away from the
house, but only to fall victims to the sur
rounding hordes without. One large
cockroach, T roticed, made plucky light
but. overpowered by numbers, he gradual
ly relaxed his efforts, and was soon dis
membered, each ant carrying off portion
Of his body as a trophy.
The most exciting battle was with a
snake about three feet long that tried to
slip away unseen. The ants quickly sur
rounded him, however and fought with
terrible ferocity. With every switch of
bis tail the snake killed scores of his
tormentors, but their places were soon
filed by the black swarm which swept
increasingly on. Finally the writings OF
the snake became fainter and fainter and
at last ceased entirely, and then, and not
until then, did the ants reiinquish their at
tack. All day long they marched through
the houses until at tsundown, the end of the
column had passed and was lost to view in
the thickness Of the forest.
I entered my house and prepared to
survey ruefally my larder, but my antici-
pations of SORROW were premature for
there all my provisions as I had left them
-untouche ed. There was one exception
a poor turtle which I had tied to a stake
that morning intending to keep him alive
few days be ore making him into soup.
Hewas stone dead but therump!ed earth
about him showed that Re had hard fight
for life. Not dead ant was to be seen;
they had all been carried off by their COM
rades. afterward learned that the wa
riors ants refues to touch any food that
they themselves have not caught and slain,
which accounted for my provisions re-
naming unmo!ested.