The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-27

are found with abdomens enormously dis
tended, and full of the honey-dew the
working slaves bring in. Honey-dew, be
ii said. is q secretion of the aphides. or
plant lice, which the ant-swarms domes-
ticate and keep in herds within the nest.
But many more remain outside. Ants are
passionately fond of honey, indeed of all
sweet juices. They are further great
mushroom eaters and grow them with
in their nests. They also cultivate GER
tain species of orchids, and bring about
distinct notifications of the pant form.
singing the young tender stems so fierce
ly they swell, become almost globular,
and distill a thin semi-saccharine juice,
which the ants no doubt regard as rare
wine. One particular species Of orchid,
indeed. is so infested with a viru.ently
singing ant, the collection of it is very
dangerous The minute the plant is touch
ed all the ants swarming over 1t rush to
the point of attack. That is, however,
less curious than the fact that the or
child will not flourish without the ants,
but withers away after a feeble stray
Cling years growth
Some few among slave-holding ants re-
main capable The most part become Ut
terly demoraized. They can not build
nests, care for their young, or even feed
themselves. Not a few, when the slaves
have chosen and built a new nest rae
to 1t upon a slaves back one species is
noteworthy for having only slaves Tor
workers, yet never containing within the
nest any slave-eggs or young. AS with
bees, the queen-ant is the mother or the
swarm. Unlike bees, however, there are
often several queens in the same swarm
The workers are rudimentary females
In slave-making the victors kill all the
perfect ants, and take home the others.
Perfect males and females have wings,
which they drop as soon as the marriage
flight is over. Worker ants have no
wings. Worker ants, or. rather, slaves,
and the aphis-cows, by no means exhaust
the list of ant dependents They keep
various smaller insects as men keep do
mestic animals. Just why is not yet
clear. The fact remains, though, that in
the crannies of some nests herds of a
thousand almost invisible small creatures
have been found. A year is the average
span of ant life, but some species live
five years, Iand exceptional individuals as
much as seven. All species show the live
lest concern for their eggs, Juggling them
up into sunshine upon fair days, and scut-
Ting back with them the minute SKY Is
overcast Upon tickle April day the eggs
may be moved half dozen times. They
are nearly as regardful of the aphis-eggs.
Indeed. throughout they protect their
milch-kine shelter them well, and take
pains in rearing their young.
Hospitality is not unknown among ants
A stranger guest is shown distinguished
consideration. But woe to the stranger
ant who comes unlimited to the shelter
of an unwelcoming nest He Is hustled
and pummeled, and finally manned fatal
", unless he saves himself by showing
superior lighting power, or possessing a
clean pair of heels. After he is down
mere squirming trunk, bereft of legs, I'M
a bic to bite, the slaves lay hold of him.
and drag him outside the nest to die. POS
sibly it is an ant superstition that bad
luck follows a stranger death in the
house.
Formic acid, the distinctive ant-product.
is one of the greatest vegetable
stimulants known. The earth of
nest becomes SO saturated with It, some
people explain the famous Hindoo mango
trick by supposing that the mango seed
which comes to flower and fruit before
your eyes, is planted in a pot of ant-heap
earth. However that may be, 1t is estao-
Hshed beyond Cavil that ants of some spe-
cies cultivate, and presumably fertiize
their favorite foodstuffs. Cases in point
are the trimmer ants and the harvesting
ants, both of which abound in the state
of Texas. The trimmers prune a sort of
weed which is to their taste SO it shall
grow strong and sturdy. The harvest
ing ants go even beyond that. They clear
disks several yards across round about
their nests of all manner of vegetation, |
then plant the disks with ant-rice, which |
they watch and tend until it ripens, let |
ting no vagrant nor alien twig show It's
head unscathed.
Ants are entitled to plume themselves |
as the very first discoveries of the X-ray |
and its mysterious powers. Sir John Lub- |
book experimental eXhaustively as to the |
effect of colored light upon ants in cap |
tivity. He laid strips of colored glass over |
the nests, first putting the ant-eggs all |
under one special colour. In the end he |
determined that the ants did not much |
mind red light, that green light was also, |
in a measure. innocuous, but that invari- |
ably the eggs were hustled from under |
meath the violet rays. In no case was |
more than a single egg left there at the |
end of two hours, and oftener within less |
than an hour.
Martha McCulloch Williams.
-S-e-A