Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1922-07-06

interesting to watch them do this.
Then they always march in a path,
sone right behind the other, and those
that are returning for more leaves,
keep a straight path, close to the
first patti They never turn out Of
ahe road for anything.
Ants Al Sizes
The soldier ants OF this family are
half an insk long and are a brown
ish red color. with long legs. The
carriers are red and not quite so big.
They always have lots of slave ants
with them. which are so little one
can hardly see them, but they carry
large chunks Of leaves. The slaves
also held chew. When they are all
chewing ON the plants. it sounds just
like silk worms. chewing. chewing on
the morere or mulberry leaves.
have snid that we can easily track
the ants because they leave little bits
OF leaves ana blossom in their path.
They make this path by chewing
down the grass. and by walking back
and forth In IL. We follow this until
we find a little heap OF sand and the
little h0ta, with leaves scattered an
around. Into this hole we pour SOLE
man, (which Father says is corrosive
sublimate in English. Immediately
the ants which are outside try to
cover up the hole. so that no more
will come out Then all the little ones
Try to cling 90 the soldiers legs and
the soldiers try to get loose. So they
all go TO moving rapidly and it looks
as If they were fighting. More and
more or them cling to each other un-
ell they begin To make little balls;
these grow larger, until there are big
balls of ants. still struggling. and
rolling. and tumblng But after a few
hours. all the ants in the ball are dead
and they will not bother out plants
until next time, when new ones come
out, sometimes from the same hole,
but usually from a new opening.
Desirable For Food
The most interesting ants of this
family Of cargadOres are the queens.
These ALSO come out after a rain.
When the queens come, people go out
with pats, or gOurds. or sacks, and
catch them and eas them. They grab
the big ants as soon as they appear
at the hole. carry them home, take
off the heads and the wings. which
are big and coarse. and then fry the
rest ia lard. The queen ant is more
than On inch long. and has very star
ing eyes. The people of Colombia are
very fond OF these ants and pay a
good price for them. They are sold
by the pound, ready to eat. About a
dollar or two a pound. is what our SER
want got for whot she sold. All the
servants leave their work when the
queens come out. and run to the fields
&c catch them. When we were build
ing the house. all the workmen beg
ged to be allowed TO leave their work
and go too, so they dropped their
tools and ran. None OF them went
home for the breakfast at noon, but
caught ants instead, and most of them
had not breakfast. They probably had
a good enough feast (fOr them) at
night TO make up for it,
NO.
A Colombian once sent some fried
ants 60 a friend in Paris. They were
not preserved. or anything, so OF
course they moulded. The lady that
they we're sent to had never seen any
before. SO she thought that the white
mold was part OF the ant, and she
wrote back to her South America
friend that she liked the ants very
much. especially the white fringe
around them. It was just the mold,
but she did noC know that.
Many times l have watched these
queens start a bOveda, by digging a
hole. Once one commenced a nest in
)ur patio. She did il by sticking her
head in the ground. and digging with
her front feet, throwing the dirt over
her head. When the hole was a little
deeper. she looked as though she
she had big pile of dirt at one side.
When the hole was deeper. she went
down into IL. aid brought out a load
OF dirt each second. pfiing it up on the
rest OF the dirt. OF course we did
not let her really make boveda in
tho house.
There are also padrons in this fam
lily. They are the husbands of the
queens. but they are not so large
as the queens. They are red in col
or, and nobody ealS them.
Houses Of Grass
There is another kind of ant know
that ia similar tO the carpador only
not SO large. and It builds a very
funny house. IL also builds under
ground. but the front door of the
house looks like a little chimney,
built up 90 height of 4 inches from
The ground. Or il is like log house,
IKE the picture Of the house where
lincoln was born. Mother says ii