Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-04
Aunt Dorothy's Letter

Dear Children:
One evening short time since Cd
served for some time a little girl lntehtiy
watching something that was going On
among the grasses and along the nass.ohes
in her dooryard At length she called out
to me. "Oh, come here! I want to show
YOU something" 1 went down to where she
was and found the something to be col
lection of ant hills. why. that Is inter-
esting. isn't it?' / said. Yes. Just see
EN-, How fast they work. See that Pile
of sand; they brought up all of that, and
they only bring one piece at a time Ihat
would make a good Star letter. wouldn't
it?'
1 thought 1t would. and told her So but
first 1 said let see what you nave
really found here. We can't see mucn
above ground but these little fresh-maoe
sand hills that may be destroyed by the 1oot-
step of a passerby or the whisp OF the
housemaids broom. IT, however, you coulu
carefully lift up the fiagstones and bricks
at the edges of which these sand nils are
built you would find in the damp earth De-
meath the real reason for all this activity
of the ants that you have been watching.
You would find nicely formed chambers.
galleries and passageways. in which the
eggs. young and food OF the little insects
are stored and cared for.
In every family of ants there are what
are called males. females. workers and
soldiers. Each colony has one or more
queens. All this is very much after the
system of hives or colonies or bees.
need. perhaps, to tell you that the males
are a kind of drones or do-nothlngs, that
die soon after swarmins. The workers are
generally the smaller members or the col
ony mostly females, and the soldiers are
the larger and stronger ants selected from
among the workers.
1t is the duty of the workers to gather
and care for and store the food and nurse
the young-that is, that they are led
from the stock of food on hand. The sol
diers carefully guard the store of food and
young from incursiOns that other ants that
are constantly roaming about might make
on them.
The queen devotes herself exclusively to
the laying of eggs and goes about very
fussily. just you would expect queen to
do attended by workers. who feed her and
gather the eggs and store them away. much
as an old-fashioned miller would do with
the various sacks and bags or grain as
they came to his mill.
There is one very funny thing that the
ants do. and that is they keep and milk
cows. There is an insect called aphidae
or plant lice, whose body contains tiny
particle of white, sweet substance IL Is
the duty of some of the workers to catch
these plant lice and milk them of this
sweet substance and carry it home to the
nest, to be stored with the other food.
These plant lice 1t is said. are often taken
home to the nest and kept like cows. so
that whenever they get ready to be MIXED
again they so treated.
Those who have watched the ants closely
say that they oftentimes work on and on
when the weather will allow them to, never
stopping night or day for anything. for
days at time.
There are days or times when they turn
out for sport pastime. One writer says
he saw a number of them on their picnic
occasions when for a long while at inter-
walls they danced and played about like
lambs and kittens.
Some of their nests are built as high
hills partly above and partly below the
ground In southern climates 1t is said
that some of these hills reach the height of
fifteen feet or more.
They build their roadways and tunnels
with great precision and beauty. Their
bridges are said to be models of architec
ture in some respects
A writer has been found who says that
in South America he has discovered them
to tunnel river beds. We can hardly ask
you to believe this, however. 1t is hardly
proven.
The soldier ants oftentimes meet hostile
tribes and pursue them as In battle. When
overtaken the pursuers mount upon the
backs of their foes and saw their heads off
with their roughened jaws.
If you will carefully part the grasses in
your dooryards you will generally find ant
roads with the little insects hurrying over
them to and fro. busy with their work
And if you have a magnfying glass to use
rightfully and will employ 1t freely you
will see among the grasses wonders that
you never dreamed existed.
Yours very sincerely.
DOROTHY DAY
& was a crochety