The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03

place they had come from, while the other
/ three remained on the spot, plainly wait
| ing for che result of the others mission.
The messenger ant wasn't long gone,
and when it returned 1t was followed by
| an army of red ants There must have
been 30 or more Of them, and they swarm
| ed about ana upon the tomato worm
| carcass awhile in an apparently aimless
| and disconnected way. But by and by
! they gOt down TO business. 1t was PLAIN
| that the object of the ants was to get that
! choice bit of forage to headquarters. At
first they attempted 20 move The carcass
| along by placing a row of ants on each
| side of it and others at the front and rear
to push and pull, but enough could not get
| II good hold on the worm TO make this
| plan success. Then the ants massed
| themselves on one side of the carcass and
made a grand effort to roll il. They sue
| ceeCed In turning the ponderOus worm over
! until las big horn struck the floor, and that
/ stuck them again, but only for a moment,
| Tor the ants, as soon as they looked the
: situation over, took advantage Of the fact
. that the horn was an obstruction to NOV
J ing that end of the body, and showed the
/ other end Gear around until it lay In the
J opposite direction. This brought the OBJ
| structng horn on the side from which il
| had originally been rolled. Then the ants
gave the worm another roll until the horn
| struck the floor again when they showed
for another shift forward. In this way
| they worked with unflinching patience and
| unhagginS Industry untll they got the car
cass an the way to the crack Then there
was dismay The size of the crack had not
| been considered in laying the plans for
the transportation of the worm to the
place under the porch where they wanted
IT, The crack was much too small TO per-
NIT the taking of the carcass through.
! Ants ran frautcally up and down the
| cracks It's entire length, plainly searching
for a wider opening. Others gathered in
excited groups and evidently discussed the
situation
THE ant nest was under the porch, and
there was no way to get anything as large
! as that worm to it except by the opening
| between the ground and the floor of the
| porcn at the upper end. The only way to
| get there from where the carcass of the
/ tomato worm lay was to 20 down off the
front Of the porch by two steps that led
to the walk, and then follow a narrow
plank walk along the front of the porch
ten feet to the open end. And what do
you think? Those ants resolved to trans
| port that big burden over that roundabout
| course.
1T was two minutes or more before the
| excitement was quoted down and the ants
! got together for business again. Their
| plans We're soon made, and I discovered
! that a striking change was made in the
| mode of moving the worm along. Instead
of the slow and fatiguing rolling and
turning of the worm the ants resolved to
| carry it. I saw first one and the another
and another get under the carcass until
score or more had ACCOMPLISHED the
task, and the worm s body rose from the
moor and was at last entirely clear of 1t,
resting on the backs Of the ants that had
! one by one wedged themselves beneath it.
/ Then the big carcass began to move away
! borne on the backs of two parallel rows
| OF powerful ants The rest of the army
marched along as an escort, and, as
subsequently saw, as relief corps for the
detachment bearing the burden.
Inc carcass was borne along in steady
! march, and when the top of the steps was
| reached it was tumbled down to the next
| step, carried to the edge of that one and
| tumbled to the second and then to the
| walk There a detachment of the army
took up the load again and the march
proceeded along the wax toward the open
| ehu OF the porch. Half way down the
| walk the burden carriers put it down
! AnOther detachment relieved them and
| the march was resumed. The caravan
had proceeded only a short distance fur
ther, though to a point where the main
walk to the front safe Joined the walk
| on Whtch the army was marching when a
! panic seized the advance guard of ants
| Ihey began running excitedly to and fro
| and the panic spread through the entire
! force The army halted and the burden
! corps dropped the load and came running
| out to see what had happened I discov-
! efed then what had caused all the excite
ment. A big black ant was out sIxirrnisb
ing on the main walk and had come face
TO face with the caravan of red ants. The
black ant sized up the enemy at once
turned and dashed wildly back In the d.
Iectph 1t mad come. 1t followed the walk
| couple of yards, where il disappeared
at one side of it, The panic of the red
ants lasted for some time. They then re-
sumed their march, and I could see that
st was more rapid one and that there
was much uneasiness in the army. And
mere was need to be. If the red ants
/ mad been as good soldiers as thew We're
engineers they would have avoided the
disaster that overlook them. for they
would have captured the solitary black
ant and it couldn't have carried to its
camp the news of their presence
Before the red ants had proceeded be-
/ You'd the main walk, up that walk. on the
double quick, came a horde of black ants
( force much larger than that of the black
/ ants. The latter were soon surrounded nv
the blacks, and the battle was on. 1t was
snort and decisive In less than a minute
/ the red ants were Overwhelmed bv their
foes. Not one escaped. Those that were
not killed were made prisoners and on
( these latter the blacks put the burden of
the dead tomato worm. compelling them
to carry the prize to the camp of the vic
! tors.
"On that same farm house porch I con-
/ sidered most interesting and surprising
ways of the ants at another time. A
black ant very large and plainly out for
business, appeared at one end Of The porch
/ near where [ was sitting. Il was moving
( rapidly along, zigzaggng here and there
aud crcdng about, when suddenly IAN ant
( as big came dashing along from the other
edge OF the piazza, its course directly to-
wards the black ant. This ant was red
! one. Whether it saw its glistening black
enemy or NOT at first 1 don't know, but il
was plain that the black ant saw the red
one when it was still three or four feet
distant for the black stopped its 1naneu-
vering on The piazza and stood stu. facing
the other. with its head elevated 1t didn't
move until the red ant had advanced TO
! within foot of it, stopped suddenly. stood
a few seconds, apparently sizing the black
ant up, and then turned and took a course
at an abrupt angie from the spot. Then