Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1893 — Ants in Africa. [ARTICLE]

Ants in Africa.

A correspondent of the London Graphic writing from Umtali, Africa, says: Sir John Lubbock ought to come and live here; he could revel iu ants. There are millions and tens of millions of them. The ground round our huts is riddled with deep holds, the entrance to white ants’ nests. These insects are terribly destructive; a leathern bag will be eaten into holes In one night. I think everything in the country would be devoured by them if it were not for the black ants. These are quite half an inch long, and they prey on the smaller white ants. One suddenly sees a long black line extending for thirty or forty yards along the hospital compound. The line moves with a sharp, rustling sound, like the crisp rustling of dried leaves. One looks closer and finds that the black line is an army of ants going to storm a white ant heap. One ant alone goes at the head of the column, which is about eight inches wide. On each side run single ants, bustling up stragglers and rushing to drag sticks and straws out of the way of the army, which streams down into the nest it liasin view, and in about ten minutes streams home again iu excellent order, each black ant carrying a white one. It is a most curious sight. There are very few birds to be seen; a few golden- orioles and some dear little black and gray birds, the si»e of tomtits, are all that one comes across.