The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-02

sumo that not so many know that our
own species of ant herders and milk
efs is among the most interesting of
ms remarkable group Of insect dairy
ISIS. How often we overlook the Won
ders and beauties of our own land in
foolish efforts 10 amuse and deceive
ourselves with professed cOnsidera-
Ilon Of those that are reported to US
from afar.
Finding the Tent Builder.
po you doubt the applicability of this
iIhdrk to our case-yours and mine
10y Instance? Then on the occasion of
your next summer visit to the cool re-
cesses of any canyon in Utah, just
Keep observant for a little while till
you have found a tiny black ant-One
little larger than the species that is
not uncommon about houses in our dry
valleys. If you do this, you shall in
no wise lose your reward. You shall
see the ants going up and down in
long lines on the trunks and branches
of trees into small tents or mud sheds,
which they have built on the sides of
the branches. 1t is not wise to disturb
the ants. II is better to watch them.
This species, which might be called
herder or mixer ant, has been called
the western tentmaker. but because il
have named il the Mormon: and ]
suppose 1t will give offense 10 no one
10 call il by its name. Il is a diligent
herdsman, an industrious worker. a
tidy, Clearly housekeeper, and a valOT-
Gus but prudent fighter 1t has a sting
and will fight passionately if you tread
upon it; otherwise it minds its own
business. The whole colony. if numer-
Gus, will fight any intruder who dis
turbs their nest; but if the colony is
sTpall, they may retire without fight
inss. This trait manifests a discretion
so sensible that we could scarcely have
believed it of ants had it come from a
source less authoritative than our
friend Professor Chamberlin. whose
patient observation of the creatures
appears to have established this Curl
Gus fact.
Rear and Feed Their Cows.
Well some time when you Ioiter near
a canyon stream-nOt when you are
in hurry. however. but on some quiet
and restful summer day as you recline
on the warm ground in the shade of
the whispering pines beside the mU-
steal canyon river, just turn over a
fiat stone. Clustered in the excavated
rooms beneath, you may see groups of
small black ants (the workers.; some
larger ones with four gossamer wings
(the kings and queens); some pretty
yeliowish bodies (the nymphs, or pa
pae) larger than the ants themselves;
some smaller. legless, white grubs Cthe
rlarvae); and some minute grains (the
eggs). Along with all these, you may
see punches of aphids, or plant lice.
These are the COWS" The ants will
become greatly excited at your intru
sion; each worker will seize an aphis
in her jaws. and then rush with it
into the underground galleries. Soon
the ants and aphids will all have dis
appeared. But you will have noticed
thNt these ant-cows appear to have
besa very fat, as if well fed and cared
for. And such is the fact. Our gar
dener at the state normal. Mr.. SOren-
SON, informs me that he often comes
across the ants and their aphids on
the roots of his plants and trees. These
garden ants are subterranean in habit
but take the same care of their cattle
They raise them by carrying into their
nests or fOrmiCaries, the aphis .g.s
from the colonies upon the green stems
above ground. In the ant burrows the
aphids are protected from their enc
mics and from the severity of the
weather. tended through the winter
months, and carried from root To root
or from root to branches, as the aphids
mature. in order TO be supplied with
food upon their appropriate feeding
grounds. The ants. Mr.. Sorenson tells
me, will mine along a root till they
find the tender sprouting seeds; there
they will build little caves, or mines,
and put the aphids on the young and
juicy tissues.
To Classify Your Ant.
l feel certain that the patient reader
VIII not object To learning what this
curious ant is called in the books, and
how we classify the emmett or ant race. /
Ants belong to the insect family
known as Formicinae. which is divided
into four sub-families OF these sub |
families, we have three common i'm
Utah. A simple key, devised for this
article by my friend, Professor Cham |
berlin, viii enable US, with very little
to Identify the sub-families. |
Bearing in mind that the "pedicel" is !
the slender waist of the ant and that !
the ''nymphs" are the immature ants
or pupae, often called ant egSs, the |
large, whitish stage of the creature just
befOrt is becomes an Image" or per- |
feet insect-we shall experience no diff |
hculty in referring a given specimen |
- its proper sub-family. Thus:
A. Pedicel of two joints-Myrmicidae. /
IA. Pedicel of one joint:
1. Nymphs naked-DolOchOdorin
>. Nymphs in a cOeoon-Camponoti-l
nae.
Every member of the first named /
group has a well developed sting; of /
the second, only a rudimentary sting; 1
the third has its sting transformed into /
a mere support for poison gland. /
Therefore if an ant stings you, you /
have at least the satisfaction of know
ng-what the ant does not know-that /
It necessarily belongs to the first group. |
And as most of our ants have stings, /
they are members of tpe first sub-fam-
ly.
Full Name of Our Herder.
One of our commOnest ants of the 1
first group is this western tent-builder. |
II has some wonderful cousins in the /
tropics. the Madagascar kind building
a tent. or shed. over foot i'm diameter,
N which to keep its herd of domestic
animals. But our own payiliOn-maker
s just as remaTka bic. though it is very
much smaller. For such a tiny thing,
90. 1t has d wonderful name. II is
allied CremastOgaster lineolata. That
s the name of the tent-maker found
Ill over the United States, but our own
species has, as usual. certain peculiar
ties nf ifs oKrD and koaefs an oven !