People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1895-12-27
NATTER OF FACT ANTS.


NATTER OF FACT ANTS.
Business Is Business With Them. and They
Display Great Intelligence.
T. 7. Lovolaco of this city, who
recently returned from the if tercon-
tinental railway survey through
Central and South America, says one
Of the most interesting things TO be-
seen in the tropics is the leaf carry
ing ant
''Tho leaf carrying ant is peculiar
to tropical America. The two species
occupy different nests They are
never seen in the same roadWays,
and they always enter different
holes, hut these ants arc such great
burrowers that ono could not say
positively that the formicaries do
not communicate with each other
under ground Their holes do not
cross, and there is no communication
between the holes above ground AS
an experiment, members Of one col.
onT were transferred by hand to the
path of another. There was no CON
1ict. The strangers merely made
haste to get away.
Both species, " continued Mr.
Lovelace, have the same habits,
save that the red fellows are the
! most industrious. The black ones al
ways knocked off work in the heat
of the afternoon, while the red ones
struggled along all day, although
there were fewer workers to be seen
in the paths between L and
o'clock. There being no trees on
Moro island to supply leaves for the
ants, they gathered hay instead A
grass that grew close to the earth
and produced short seed stalks was
just coming in tassel. The seed heads
were just peeping out from their in
folding leaves when was there, and
these heads of seed were the favor
ito harvest.
II saw half inch ants carrying
seed stalks an inch long and of twice
the weight of the carrier. They also
cut off the grass leaves and carried
them in, while moist crumbs Of
bread and vegetables were cut up
and carried also. Very dry crumbs
We're ignored. / did not see them
carry meat of any kind and when l
put a piece of freshly killed grass
hopper in their path they refused to
notice it, But certain bits of damp
rotten wood were carried into the
nests as quickly as soft bread.
GA peon who came to see what /
found of interest in tho little work
ers dropped flaming wax match
among them. They did not seem to
see it, for they rushed into the damo
as they would have crossed bit Of
paper. A number Wero burned to
death, while many OF them were
crippled before the flame was extin-
guished The dead and the crippled
remained in the path perhaps two
minutes at a spot five feet from the
nest entrance. Then oame a gang Of
workers from tho nest, who picked
up tho dead and the crippled and
carried them several inches away in
to the grass at right angles to the
cath. THE wounded were left unat-
tended, as We're the dead. The work
ers then attacked the extinguished
match taper. 1t was nearly an inch
long, ans a dozen (by count) took
hold of it, pulled it in all directions
at once, rolled it and one another
ovcS, stood on their heads and crawl
ed under it, Whilo tine leaf carriers
etreamed by and over them, ap-
parently Needless Of their presence.
it was Il case OF wholly undirected
labor, fer any two, possibly any one,
could have dragged il from the path,
but it took the dozen Is minutes to
tumble it across two inches of tho
path.
"Whilo II Honduras an American
told mo that the leaf cutting ant was
to blame Tor much of the lazincss oI
the natives, who 90 not try to mako
gardens or cultivate fruit trees be
cause the ants destroy everything OF
that kind. However, tho American
solved the problem OF keeping the5a
ants away from his garden by dig
ging ditch around it and keeping
water running through it, an effect
i've barrier. "-Kanscs City Star,
Es---------
Tho fountain OF content must
spring up il the mind, and ne who
has so little knowledge of human
nature Is to seek happiness by
changing anything but his own dis
position will waste his life in fruit
less efforts and multiply the griefs