Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — WARRIOR ANTS. [ARTICLE]

WARRIOR ANTS.

Insects and Reptiles Fleeing for Life from the Advancing Horde. It was in Honduras, near the Caribbean coast, while on a Government survey, that I first saw the warrior ants — those strange insects which march through the tropical forests in armies, attacking every living creature in their path. One intensely hot day, as I sat in a hammock under the thatohed roof of my bamboo hut, a native came running in, and, with excited gestures, bade me follow him. I did so wonderingly, and, going out into the open, looked in the direction he indicated. There on the rolling savanna stretched a wide black belt extending far back into the deep shadows of the adjacent forest. It rose and fell with every formation of the ground, and, like a hugesnake, slowly crept toward the village. “The warrior ants,” explained the native in a strange patois of English and Spanish which I shall not attempt to imitate. “They will soon be here,” he continued. “You had better untie your dogs, or the ants will kill them.” Acting upon his advice I loosed my dogs, and retiring to a safe distance, watched the approach, of the warriors. In countless multitudes they swarmed over the plain, marching in compact order, like a well-drilled, army. Before them scurried a heterogeneous mass of lizards, grasshoppers, frogs, beetles, and other manner of insects and reptiles, in a wild scamper to reach a place of safety. Presently the advance guard reached my hut and disappeared within, then the main column appeared, and soon the roof, floor, walls, and rafters were black with them. Like the soft lustle of dried grass stirred by a gentle breeze came the sound of their presence in the leaves of my thatched roof. The |sound increased in loudness as the rats, mice, lizards, cockroaches, centipedes, and others of their ilk, who had long made the roof their home, tried vainly to escape. Some succeeded in getting away from the house, but only to fall victims to the surrounding hordes without. One large cockroaoh, I noticed, made a. plucky fight, but, overpowered by numbers, he gradually relaxed his efforts, and was soon dismembered, each ant carrying off a portion of the body as a trophy. The most exciting battle was with a snake about three feet long that tried to slip away unseen. The ants quickly surrounded him, however, and fought with terrible ferooity. With every switch of his tail the snake killed a score of his tormentors, but their places were loon filled by the black swarm which swept unceasingly on. Finally the writhings of the snake became fainter nnd fainter and at last ceased entirely, and then, and not until then, did the ants relinquish their attack. All day long, they marched through the house, until, at sundown, the end of the column had passed and was lost to view in the thickness of the forest. I entered the house and prepared to survey ruefully my larder, but my anticipations of sorrow were premature, for there were all my provisions as I had left them—untouched. There was but one exception —a poor turtle which I had tied to a stake that morning, intending to keep him alive fora few days before making him into soup. He was Stone dead, but the rumpled earth about him showed that he had made a hard fight for life. Not a dead ant was to be seen : they had all been carried off by their comrades. I afterward learned that the warrior ants refuse to touch any food that they themselves have not caught and slain, which accounted for my provisions remaining unmolested. —[Omaha World Herald. A curiosity of Amitvvilie, Pa., is a peach tree, which is seventy years old. Peach trees ordinarily do not thrive for more than four or five years.