Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1892 — Land Transformed by Ants. [ARTICLE]

Land Transformed by Ants.

A traveler in Central Australia has discovered that the surface of the country has been greatly changed by what may appear at first thought a ridiculous agency—the white ants. On plain and in thickets their nests are so numerous that it is difficult to drive among them. The clay with which the nests are built is, wheD cemented with resinous matter, as hard as brick, and when the nests fair to pieces they form clay flats, almost impervious to Water and not easily cut up by traffic. The work of these creatures can be studied in all stages; first in the thickets, where they are commencing work; then in the more open country, where they have crowded out the timber; next on the plaips, where half the hills will he found deserted; and lastly on the clay flats, where they have almost entirely disappeared and the scrub has begun to grow again. The nests are further remarkable for the large proportion of iron they contain.