The morning news., 1894-07-30
THE SOLDIER ANTS OF AFRICA.
A Terror to Man, Elephants and
Lions

DR.. Eugene Murray Aaron in Scientific Amer
Monsieur Coillard, a French missionary
in the Barotse valley of South Central
Africa, thus writes of these terrors there:
"One sees them busy in innumerable bat
talions, ranked and disciplined, winding
along like broad black ribbon of wa
tered silk. Whence come they? Where
are they goingl Nothing can stop them,
nor can any object change their route. If
it is an lnanimate object, they turn it
aside and pass on if it is living they as
sail 1t venomously, crowding one on top
of the other TO the attack, while the
main army passes on, business like and
silent. Is the obstacle a trench or a
stream of water? Then they form them
selves at its edge into compact mass. Is
this a celebrating assembly, Probably,
for soon the mass stirs and moves on,
crosses the trench or stream, continues
in its incessant and mysterious march.
A multitude of these soldiers are sacri-
feed for the common good, and these le-
gions, which know not what it is to be
beaten, pass over the cOrDses of these
victims to their destination"
Against these tiny enemies no man, nor
band of men, no lion or tiger, nor even
herd of elephants, can do anything but
hnrriedly get out Of the way. Among the
Barotse natives favorite form of capital
punishment is to coat a victim with grease
and throw him before the advancing army
of soldier ants. The quickness with which
the poor wretch is dispatched is marvel
Gus, when it is considered that each ant
| candU nothing more than merely tear but
a small particle of flesh and carry it off.
Yet in surprisingly short time the writh-
ing victim Will have been changed into a
skeleton of clean and polished bones that
will make the trained anatomist en-
vious.
All are familiar with the tales of how
these armies of ants enter tropical viii
lage and take entire possession of it, driv-
ing It's inhabitants OUT in terror, and at
last in few hours or day or tive aban-
doning it cleaner than the arts of the
most orderly housekeeper could ever
make it. These are not travellers tales
The most gifted pen must fail to give an
adequate idea to the uninitiated of Just
how thorough and searching these
creatures are in ridding a house of every
bit of animal or vegetable matter in it.
Perhaps, however, the narration of the
following bit of personal experience may
help to illustrate it. l had returned
from days tramp in. the hills, laden
with trophies in the shape of
tropical insects, some of them, perhaps,
new to the eyes of scientists, and all of
certain value, wien WIS Cdll6u OUT OF
my house by the cry, The driver ants,
the driver ants" Hastily placing most
of my collections in glass jars and tin
boxes, so as TO be out of the reach of the
invaders, and gathering such clothes as l
would need for a day or two, / made a
rather undignifed retreat. After | had
done so l remembered that had left some
rare bees pinned in a box that was in the
pocket of my collecting coat, but as the
coat N nd bpaO nlaRp0 in a CT phact
and this chest was heavily scented with
naphthalin or tar camphor," and the lid
fitted down very tight,
felt that they were safe.
The next morning when | went back,
after night spent in my hammock in a
tamarind tree, | found that of bunch of
bananas, consisting of a thick stem and
about 100 of the fruit, there was no trace
whatever save the dangling string with
which ithad been hung from the ceiling;
and not vestige Of bread chocolate,
coffee and other eatable odds and ends
could be found on the thoroughly cleaned
shelves, on which some food had been left
Even the cracks between The floor boards
had been cleaned out, the particles of edi-
BILE matter having been carried away or
devoured and the mere dust left where it
could easily be swept away.
This was not 50 bad, for good clean
ing never hurts a house in the tropics
but when l came to examine my chest
and found that hole quite two inches in
diameter had been torn in one end through
an inch board of hard wood, that the box
IN my coat pocket had also been pierced
and every one of the pins on which my
beetles had been arranged stood in place
as empty and clean as when taken out of
the paper, ] had better idea of the
thoroughness of these tiny scavengers
than ever before.