Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1899 — A Queer Boat in Which to Ride. [ARTICLE]

A Queer Boat in Which to Ride.

The “driver ant" is to be met J in many parts of South peculiarity of the insects of thte’||9 | cies is that, when in danger, they finwl themselves into balls. When en by a flood they rush to a certaiaH place near their dwellings and in !ik|| few seconds clinch each other in satmH numbers that they become a ball. I A traveler once saw thousands themselves together in this way the ball was at least one foot in eter. Then, when the flood came, were swept down stream. FoUowtajjS the ball, in his canoe, the traveller|| saw it lodge in the top of a tree to-fl which the ants on the outside clung, jj When the water had subsided some-®! what the ants left the ball in greatß droves, seeking refuge in the upp«O| branches. j As soon as the flood had disappeategM they marched back to their fonndl place of abode. One of these baits, tat-3 which all the ants were dead, was'.S found, and it may still be seen In a.fl museum in England.