The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-02

Ants are not supposed to cross water,
but they will do so If 1t Is a case of ne
cessity. An easy way to test this is to
put two ants from different colonies in
a small dish set inside large one
filled with water. One Of the ants will
invariably run all around the dish, and
not finding a bridge, he will swim
across to the edge of the large dish.
Ants are very courageous and will
risk a great deal in order to procure
food for the colony l remember see
ing quarrel which ended in fight be-
tween very small ant and spider
twice his size. The spider had killed
small fly and was running along
home with it, when he met an ant VIII
saw the fly and wanted it himself.
The ant ran toward the spider and
attempted to pull the fly away, but the
more he pulled the tighter the spider
held to his victim. Then the ant ran
around the spider and tried to bite one
of his hind legs, but the spider was too
quick and turned around. He did not
wish to lose the fly and it was impossi-
BILE to kill the ant without doing so, and
unless the ant was killed the fly might
be lost. Evidently the desire to kill
was uppermost in his mind, for he
dropped the fly and made jump for
the ant, but being so much larger than
his enemy, he jumped so far
that he landed some distance in front
of him. This gave the ant one little
chance for his food, and in a second he
had seized the fly and was hurrying
away as fast as his legs would carry
him. The spider noticing this, stated
after him, but at that moment the ant
met some of his friends and escaped
unframed.
The ants of my colony do not eat
very much animal food, most of the
colony provisions consisting of sugar
and cake, probably due, to the fact that
| the house is so near that they are ena-
bled to procure those things more cas-
| lily.
/ feed them with syrup quite often,
and occasionally give them bread or
cake. Indeed it is difficult to think of
anything they will not eat, and one is
always sure to suit them with anything
| sweet.
1t is very difficult to keep a colony
| indoors in way that is satisfactory to
1 dll COllCeIDSu, dHu IL 10 AiuCh CuoiCi "
find a colony out of doors and make OBJ
servations in that way. After once be-
| ginning to study these insects 1T is so
fascinating that one finds it hard to
leave them. If some of the people who
step on ant-hills Intentionally or care
lessly, would only spend an hour study
ing few of those hills, they would
never repeat the performance Of step
ping on innocent creatures, unless 1T
We're impossible to avoid it.
Few human beings possess the ever
lasting patience and never-ending will
lingness to work, which is shown by
the ants in building their home and
ruling their households Every ant
hill is made of thousands of tiny grains
of sand, each grain brought by an ant
| and placed with the greatest care at
the top of the hole After much pa
tient toll the work is finished and then
some human being comes along not nc
ticing where he treads, and destroys by
one careless step of moment the hard
work of hours.
All the trouble has been wasted, all
the work has been in vain, but, nothing
daunted, the little workers begin once
more and build new hill. Their pa
tience and perseverance are to be en-
/ Wed by those who possess not those
| qualities, and the lessons which ants
teach could well be learned by us.