The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-07
WARFARE AMONG ANTS.
THE ONLY CREATURES RESIDES
MAN THAT FIGHT SCIENTIFIC
CALLY.

From the Boston Transcript.
The art of war is understood and prac-
tised by only one kind Of animals be-
sides man. Those animals are ants.
Ants are adopts in military science.
They know the who,e business from a
guerilla movement to the siege of a for
tilted city. Not all ants are warike, 1t
is true, but many species are extremely
so, and of these the best example is furn-
ished by the Ecitons.
The Ecitous may be called exclusively
military. inasmuch as they have no per-
manent homes, but spend nearly all their
time in warlike expeditions. Some species
of them are found in Texas and elsewhere
in the United States but they are most
numerous in Brazil. Their armies often
number millions and move in serried col
umns. Nothing living can successfully op-
pose them, and the largest and fiercest
creatures Of the tropical forests fly before
them TO escape being devoured. Wherever
they move the whole animal world is set
in commotion and put TO precipitate rout.
The main body OF the army Of Ecitons
as it moves forward in steady discipline
ed march is made up of the worker ants,
HO-Ceit4Stts lilOQBl ileN are lSlleIS d5 wen
as tOlIers. For every one thousand work
ers there are perhaps fifty solder ants"
which are of the same breed, but spec
tally built for fighting purposes, having
enormous heads and powerful jaws.
These soldiers never carry anything or
attend to any other business apparently,
but trOt along on the TANKS of the col
umn. being distributed at regular inter-
walls like subaltern officers. Their shining
white heads make them very conspicuous,
bobbing up and down as the regiments
pass over inequalities in the road.
There are ten known species of these
ants in Brazil. One Of these called sugges-
tive Fredator, prefers the phalanx forma-
ton. One of its phalanxes on the march
over clear and smooth ground occupies Il
space of from four to six square yards,
the insects being densely massed. While an
army of Ecitons advances In compact or
der, skirmishers are thrown out, and here
and there a small column leaves the main
body to forage. If some very rich place be
found anywhere near the line of march
for example. a mass of rotten wood
Astounding in insect Srubs-a halt is or
dered and a strong force is concentrated
upon it. The ants search every Granny and
tear in pieces all the large grubs they
drag TO light.
An army of Ecitons as it moves forward
clears the ground of all animal matter,
dead or alive. Every living creature that
can get out of the way does so. 1t is espe-
ciaiiy the various tribes of wingless insects
that have cause to fear, such as other
kinds of ants, heaVy-boded spiders, mag
gots, caterpilars, etc. If a man making
his way through the tropical forest hap
pens to encounter a marching column of
these ants he is instantly attacked. Num-
bers of the feroCious insects swarm up his
legs, and wherever they find a bare spot
they attack it, each one driving it's pincer-
like jaws into the skin, and singing with
its tan with all its might.T The EcitOn stings
like a bee, being strictly business" at
both ends There is nothing for the man to
do but run for ii, and when he gets to
place of safety he proceeds to pluck off the
insects one by one. Usually in the opera
ton they are pulled in twain, leaving their
heads ana jaws sticking in the wounds.
/ These military ants never let go when once
they have grabbed anything.
DR.. H. w. Bates in his work entitled
"a Naturalist on the River Amazon" de-
scribes an attack by a column of Ecitons
upon fortress e., a great mound-shap-
ed communal dwelling of another species.
of ants. The army began its assaults
upon the works in most systematic man
mar eXcaVating a series of mines. Oper-
atoms were so thoroughly organized that
some of the assailants did the digging
while others carried away the grains of
I earth, and others yet brought out the
!
the chambers of the structure besieged
AS fast as the larvae were brought out
they We're torn to pieces their weight be-
ing too great for a single Eciton to bear
The Ectons are very small ants, though in
some species the big-headed Soldiers"
are as much as half an inch long. When
the fort had been completely looted the
column marched away, laden with the
manged remains of the victims. These
We're doubtless conveyed to some conve-
nient place, to be eaten at leisure
Ii is not to be supposed that there was
no defence made by the tribe Of ants thus
ruthlessiy attacked; on the contrary. the
resistance offered was very fierce In
ant wars senrally the greatest pugnacity
and courage are exhibited the contest last
ing sometimes for days. and the weaker
party ultimately succumbing from sheer
exhaustion and defamation. Fighting ants
viii suffer themselves to be cut TO peices
rather than let so when they have once
seized an enemy. In Brazil there is a
kind Of ant that captures ana enslaves
ants of other species. This is a formid-
aDie insect, indeed, it's method of combat
being to grasp the head of a foe in its
jaws and to kin by piercing the brain,
/ thus paralyzng the nervous system. Ow-
ing 10 the efficiency of these tactics.a COM
paratively small force of the slave-mak-
ing ants win fearlessiy attack much larg-
er armies, suffering scarcely any loss
themselves.
In tropical countries ants are extremely
! numerous and wars are constantly In
progress. These military insects have
kingdoms which can boast populations as
numerous as any of the nations of men.
In the Alleghanies DIR. MacCook found
l6O0 huge nests of forest ants together
constituting a single empire. Such a king
dom probably has from 200000,O00 TO 400
| OooO0 Inhabitants, all forming one com
} munity and living together IN active and
friendly intercourse while they are on
hostile terms with all other nations Of
ants, even those of the same species. II
is known that there are at least two thou
sand species of ants in the world The
terocity exhibited by ants in fighting is
extreme, the ground after a battle being
strewn with decapitated bodies. heads
and mangled limbs of the slain. The in
scots fight two-and-two. in the fashion
OF the duello All the evidences are APP
parent of the action of maligant passions
hate, cruelty and destruotiVenegs