The Washington herald., 1907-04-25
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

BY FREDERII
When a freight train suddenly tumbled
through a trestle some time ago. to the
establishment Of the crew and to the
great disaster of the rolling stock and
commodities carried. an investigation was
made to see what could have caused it.
1t was in no dangerous place. the most
modern engineering skill had been en-
ployed in its construction, and the iron
bolts and timbers seemed 10 have been
good for many years The investigation
brought about the fact that the wooden
piers and supports Of the trestie work had
been literally h0neycombed by ants. They
had cut passage after passage in the
wood. building houses of many chambers
one above the other leaving only thread
Ike bits Of the timber between. with the
result that there was little strength left
IN the structure.
Scientists then set about finding out
more about these little citizens who could
90 so much damage in such quiet way.
Eager for the work. some packed their
grips and went 10 Texas TO study the
agricultural ant Ia her own fields. and
some went to the Middle West to see
what the carpenter ant was doing besides
eating up railroad tTesties. The Depart
ment of Agriculture sent men to Guate-
mala 10 get acquainted with the Kelep.
and see II il were really true that she
could destroy boll-weevils, while a New
York woman captured several colonies Of
ants, put them in artificial nests in her
home, and devoted her time to study OF
their habits.
All this study contributed many novel
and startling facts to the present-day
knowledge OF ants. It was found that
they are strong for the new woman idea,
the workers of the ant-hills all being
females. Queens preside over the desu-
MES OF the race, and the kings keep as
much out Of the way as possible. being
only barely tolerated by the workers
who have such advanced ideas on Wo-
mans rights. There are well-trained reg
iments of soldiers, efficient policemen on
guard at the village gates, trained
nurses TO care for the newly Matched pu-
pae, masons, brickmakers. and carpen-
ters-an females. An army of busy black
slaves IS continually under the watch
ful eyes Of the eaptoTs, and a herd of
ant COWS" the aphides, or plant lice, is
carefully tended and fed, that it may
furnish a sweet fluid for the support Of
the colonies.
We have a way OF saying that a man
who works hard works ike q Trojan
Virgil wrote in his 'Aeneid' that the Tro-
JAMS reminded him of sWarms OF ants as
they worked. The amount Of labor that
one busy ant can accomplish in one day
is almost unbelievable. She has been
known to dig a ditch along the highway
OF her home village at the rate OF an inch
a day, the ditch being many times deep
er than herself, and the dirt taken out
being nodded into bricks and put along
the edge to form a wall or embankment.
II a man did equal amount of work
Ia proportion TO his size, he would be ex-
PEELED from the union for working over
time
As engineers, the ants have accomplish
ed feats that make the great works of
man, such as bridging the Lucin Cutoff
and cork-screwing down the North Car
DINA Mountains from the SwannanOa
Tunnel look like childs play. They in
vented tubular bridges long before an in
teiiigent Canadian government threw the
Victoria Bridge across the ST. Lawrence,
and the ant bridge was formed OF a liv-
gether The suspension bridges Of the
South American streams built with such
care by natives, with the use of much
rope and vine was anticipated hundreds
OF years before by ants who hung them
selves in line, the one holding to the
hind legs of the one above him until a
rope many feet long was formed When
the floating end was blown across the
river by a kindly breeze. the lower ant
seized twig or branch Of a tree, and,
holding firmly, completed the living
bridge over which the migrating colony
or the burden bearers could safely cross.
The small red ant the pest of the pam
try In country or town. is as clever as she
is bothersome. Many a time a despair
ing housewife has marked a path Of tar
around the legs of tables or refrigeTatOrs.
10 find next day that the engineering
corps had brought grains Of sand 10 build
a bridge over the tar. and that the work
ers were merrily carrying of the sugar,
syrup, or whatever they had decided TO
store away for winter. Once when sand
was lacking it was found that the work
ers had returned TO their village and had
brought over a drove of their COWS and
had stuck them in the tar, cheerfully sac
rihcing them TO the urgent needs of com
merce.
Learning that chalk lines drawn on the
floor would keep ants away, the acid in
the chalk being too strong for the sensi-
tive ant noses a man once drew thick
line around party of ants that was for
aging across his kitchen floor He kept
them there several days, as none would
cross the line. Finally. feeling sorry for
them he chopped up some fine grass and
dropped Il in the circle that thew might
eat and keep from starving. Eat. Not
they. They simply seized the bits OF
grass, bore them piece by piece to the
chalk line, built a pyramid. and when it
was high enough pushed il over the line.
thus making green bridge over which
the prisoners triumphently passed.
Miss Adele n. Fielde, Of New York dis
covered many wonderful things in regard
10 the colonies she kept in her home She
found that they are blind, deaf. and
dumb. and that they use their antennae for
almost all the purposes of the human
senses. The antennae have from four
10 thirteen joints, and each Joint directs
the ant IN some special sense. To re-
move one joint would deprive the ant Of
any idea Of direction. and she could new
er find her home. To take away a GER
tain other one would make her fail TO
recognize her own relatives Il is believed
that ants tell one another only by the
sense of smell, as each Of these tiny in
sects has a peculiar scent or Odor OF its
own. The talent Of a bloodhound is moth
ing compared TO that Of an ant when it
is necessary to trace by smell Instead
of hearing with ears. Miss Fielde's coll
ony discerned ali vibrations. even TO the
s-sr hal