The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-05
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT ANTS.
Many Traits Like Those of Human Be-
 iOgs


 Many Traits Like Those of Human Be-
 ings.
 There is a lot that is human about these little ants. They like to play and cut up; they make believe to fight, and when they wrestle in fun they roll all around like schoolboys. They wash and brush each other and stretch out under the process as much as to say, My! that feels good!" When they sleep they often lie on their sides, and sometimes squat down on their abdo- men and the last pair of legs for all the world like man taking a nap. When they wake up they gape and stretch themselves, and all but say, "He hum" They always wash themselves and comb their hair as soon as they get up, and that without having to be told, like some little persons I know, but will not name here.
 They are like us in keeping pets about the house Andre counted five hundred and eighty-four species of insects, nearly all of them beetles, that are ha- bitually to be found in ants nests They must be there with their consent for an interloper is constantly killed Some of them are milch- cattle, like the aphides, such as caterpillars that give sirup. and the little blind beetle clavi- ger, which secretes honey from a tuft at the base of its wings. If one of these clavigers Is put into the nest of strange ants they fall upon it and slaughter it at once. Some kinds of wood lice are kept as scavengers, and the silverfish or bristletai1 and the larva of the elater beetle are handy to have around to do the heavy digging under the supervision of the workers Many of these domesticated animals are una- ble to feed themselves. Lespes saw some ants eating sugar. A omechusa of their nest came up and nuZZed them till they fed it. Afterward it climbed up on the lump of sugar, but did not seem to know how to get the good of it for itself But also there are pets about which are as useless as a pug dog, if another such thing in the uni verse can be imagined. The little ste mamma westwoodii pranks about in the
 
 It runs along with them, jumps on their backs and takes ride, and, if for any reason the nest is remaved, they go along.
 Then there is another little ant in these nests that is by no means pet. It digs it's galleries In the partitions so small that the big ants cannot get in to kill them. Every once in a while fugax darts out, snatches up a baby and runs with it into its den, where it eats it up. It is as if we had dwarfs lurking in the walls and now and then carrying off one of the children to be devoured at 1orrid behind the clustering. But if we begin calling hard names we might as we'll keep it up and admit 1rst as last that all ants are cannibals l md feed not only on other kinds of | ants, but even upon their own species, l when they are not of the same house. | 1old. They capture and carry off the | eggs, larvae and pupae of other nests, | md what they do not have for dinner | o day they fatten for tomorrow. It | $ supposed that in this way they got | nto the habit of keeing slaves The young captive ants came out of their ! ,ocoons, and being naturally industrf- | JUS. they hustled about and gave the 1 babies their nimmy nimmy when they 1 ried for it, swept the floor and carried Il the coal till the approving workers 1 if the captors began to talk to each ther like this: That fusca Is handy | title thing about the house. seems ,ind of pity to kill her when we got so much fresh meat on hand, and right in he busy season when help is hard to ret. She's so good to the children, too. tets keep her a while. What do you ay?" And then when it was decided O put off butcherink day they went to usca and said, 'Fusca, we've conclu- led not to kill you for a spell yet. You an stay around and do up the work, ut mind, if there are any complaints bout you, or the children are neglected, r you give any of your back talk-well, here'll be fresh meat for supper, do ou understand" And fusca dropped
 curtsey, and made answer: 'Yais. aissy. Tank, yo'. missy. All do re, l