Arizona republican., 1911-10-25
DISSERTATION ON
THE FESTIVE ANT
Stories of Their Habits and the Way
To Fight Them.
BY forest Mitchell.

the red ants, they being considered
only in avoiding and preventinf them
from crawling up our clothes or biting
us when We carelessly sit down on
them. In our daily goings and comings.
on the streets and in the meadow lands
of the plains and deserts. their little
hills and limitations of towers are en-
countered, not unfavorable in likeness
To prairie dog towers. only they are not
50 large in build and no barking is
emitted from their little strongholds
A more lucid dissertation on the red
ant might be effected if written by
naturalist or student of nature wherein
the traits and character of the insect
could be more accurately depicted than
By one who has observed them only in
an indefinite way leaving out many in
teresting facts in their lives. objects
and makeups
To begin with. the red ant is an an
noying and pestiferous little animal if
this distinctive, above that of an insect.
can be given it. His considerate past
is when he crawls up some ones
clothes and being conscious that there
Is something doing down below and a
hand Is clapped on the place to check
the sensation. Here is where one
traits ant Of many came in. for the first
law of nature is self prof ton. and the
red ant seems to me awake to the fact
simultaneously with the clapping and
pressing of the hand on the something
that is crawling up the leg of your
trousers. there is a sudden paignant
feeling of pain and the resent has been
CT,
suits upon the domain of the little ami
NAL falls to the ground in a sitting
posture and offs with shoes and stock
ings on that side, and then a panto-
maine procedure of acrobatic feats is
decided upon to dislodge the enemy
and throw him over the bank by the
neck
The scrap, and its ensuing confusion.
was caused by the squeezing when the /
part objected was given such a sudden /
and hard clapping of the hand. for even |
so little a thing as the ant is not per- |
verse to danger and the struggle for |
self preservation.
The red ant is habitable to all parts !
and sections of the west, and not only |
to the newly arrived eastern who OBJ /
serves and sometimes has their first |
experience with them in Phoenix. but !
they inhabit plains and deserts from |
the Missouri river throughout the sun /
set course OF the sun to the waters Of |
the ocean. The writer Of this disSer-
tation on the subject of the caption, |
spent a whole lot of years in the noun 4
tains. pretty much from where they
begin TO where they end. but does not H
GQmPmh1r having diSantara5 n .l
ont at very high altitude: neithe-
We're there any prairie dog towers up H
there in the Dineclad peaks and ranges Il
And while the two. the insect and the
animal. are if a very distinctive nature Il
in their building. they are not so in
distinctively separate in their work Of
modelling their houses in the low alti-
tudes.
Memory recalls one instance Of them H
living at moderately high altitude u
and that IS at Prescott where the
crests of the ranges are flattened and
are only of a medium stature, as COM
paded with the mountains and ranges
further nor:h. But here. where the
ranges and peaks are SO indefinite in
number. they are well clothed in
growths of pine, cedar, fir. pinon and
other growths of trees in nature. the
red ants exist in intolerable numbers.
In fact. since this one instance has
been recalled to mind, the remembrance
OF the red a at towers up there are much
larger than seen at much lower alti-
trdes, and the number of ants lnhabt.
ing each hill can only me enumerated
by calling them 'legions." But this
screed, with The Ants Way for the
subject was commenced in the
thoughts of these annoying little pests
right here in Phoenix, where, notwith-
standing the long time that has elapsed
since the town was commenced. there
seems 20 be about the usual number
now that there vas then, and where
grass grew where streets and houses
now stand and the wavs are thronged
with a working mass of humanity.
London blue powders have been used
very copiously to exterminate them.
and if this be followed up, it will COM
plete the regime of their reign there
abouts, and their annoying proximity to
people and homes.
The bite of the red ant is very pain
full, and it is not infrequently the case :
where the bite and swelling does not a
subside for some days. At the first in
cision Of the poison the flesh turns red
and assumes q quickly swollen condi-
ton, accompanied by sharp. itching
pains. but in the three or four days sue v
ceeding the bite, the flesh turns blue. b
as if of bruise made by the blow of b
some heavy instrument. At the time F
of the bite. Il chew of tobacco is ap L
piled and bandaged on the place, it will p
soothe and ease the pain greatly. fol- o
lowed by a permanent cure. a
For about five years home was kept
and maintained at No. 113-15 East k
Van Buren, street. The backyard then. 7
as no-. ran south to the alley. thence b
To No. 127 East Van Buren, street and Y
west to North First street. There were h
but four houses on that quarter of a o
block, all being occupied by Mexican o
except one, an American occu b
pying No. 113. Mr.. ValenZuela, now a
a member OF the citv police force, and r;
family lived at No. lis, adjoining No. Il
113. Their little girl, Lucilla was then il
about four years old. and while walk q
i'm, aho,,t barafootad in tho backward q,