Evening star., 1949-10-01
This and That
Bv Charles E. TracelpeU
DARLINGTON.

Lear OH.
IT wonder If you could tell me why huge
black ants come in like an army through
crack under the front screen and big door
and march up the side of the door to the
picture molding next to the ceiling.
II find others on the wall of the upper
stairway marching into the top door trim
ming.
Earlier I found huge red ants coming
under the back screen door all over the back
hall and kitchen walls. ~.s F.
IT combat them. but what do they want?
Respectfully. G. R. D."
Ants are always on the go.
Propelled by their instinct Of the hive
or nest, they search for safe living quarters
and for food.
These two aims consume their lives.
You may be sure that when ants swarm
or go in armies they are after one or
the other.
Some ants bore in wood There must
always be suspicion that ants indoors
may be after safe hiding place, in which
pursuit they may cause wood damage.
The carpenter ant. for instance, is one
Of the largest-and is entirely black.
They usually stick to the woods. espe-
cially to fallen tree. Sometimes stump
suits them.
The interior is carved in marvellous group
of passages and rooms.
Divisions between cells and passages are
as thin as paper. The ants do all this with
their jaws. They can bore, chisel and carve
with them.
If something hits the stump q blow, the
ants are in q turmoil instantly. They must
see to it that the young ones are taken
down quickly.
kaL~ aoA
bodily carries him down into the passages.
Ants are marvellous in their ability to
carry large insects as food. Coming to the
nest, they work to get the big insect into
the right position, then shove 1t down
passageway.
Everything they do must be done in the
dark, of course. It is not known whether
they have some sixth sense, or utilize un-
known powers of radar in doing all their
interior work in the darkness.
They tight with their jaws, and also are
acid throwers. There Is no conception in
the ant world of anything being under
handed. They use fornic acid to throw on
each other, and that is all right in the
ant world, which is sort of communism.
They have no rebels. Each one does what
he does according to the way he is born
and the food he has received. They have
courage, it is true, but also slavery they
have industry, but also no regard for
others; they might be called patriotic, in
their odd way, but have constant war and
destruction
In their way they take e-care of each other.
The young ants are attended by older ones.
which unfold the legs Of the young ones as
they come from the cocoons.
| From the earliest days the ants have
interested mankind. -..
In the Bible we find:
go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider
her ways and be WISE Which having no
chief, overseer or ruler, provideth her bread
in the summer and gathereth her. food in
the harvest"
Our correspondent may feel that the
armies of ants are after food then, and
may be they are.
There are on the market various small
| metal containers called ant traps They
| may be secured at hardware stores. These
will attract ants and kill most Of them.
They should be 50 placed that children and
pets cannot get at them.
Ants make slaves Of other ants, and, some
species are so dependent upon their slave
ants that they cannot feed themselves!
Ants may not have chiefs" but they do
| have queens Several queens live together
| in the same hill Queens and worker ants
| i've as long as six or seven years. but males
| die young.
All in all, being wise in the ways of the
| ant scarcely appeals to the modern Ameri-
| can. We like our democracy and our equal
| ity. and we can see nothing in ant, wasp or
| any other form of communism to attract 60
setters