Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1875 — Foraging and Fire Ants. [ARTICLE]

Foraging and Fire Ants.

Foraging ants, E. drs panephora, are ▼ery annoying, and very useful. These insects go out from their cities in immense armies, not very broad, but often a hundred yards long. Officers march beside the column, very busy keeping their own portion of the line in order. There is an officer to about twenty privates ; their white heads nodding up and down make them quite conspicuous. The pittas, or ant thrushes, always accompany these armies, picking up the ants for their own food; but still the band goes marching on. The people know that the ants are on the war path, and make every preparation for their reception. In those countries insects of every kind get into the houses and multiply to an extent which almost drives the inhabitants from their homes. By day they are a trouble and by night a pest. They bite, and suck, and scratch, and sting. They crawl over the food; they hide in the bed; they fly into the lamp, and then whirl on the table; they creep into the ink; they emit horrible smells. There are centipedes with sting, and scorpions which sting. There are cockroaches of powerful size and smell, and of insatiable appetite. As for snakes and lizards, and other creeping things, they are too common to be noticed. It is of no use to fight. Tour enemies are legions of numbers innumerable. But when the foraging ants come the case is altered, for nothing can stand their attack. When the pittas come about the people open every box and drawer in the house, so as to allow the ants to explore every crevice, and then they vacate the premises. Presently a few scouts, which form the vanguard of the grand army, approach, and seem to inspect the house to see if it is worthy of a visit. The long column then pours in and disperses over the dwelling. They enter every crevice and speedily haul out any unfortunate creature which is hidden therein. Oreat cockroaches are dragged unwillingly away, being pulled in front by four or five ants, and pushed from behind by as many more. The rats and mice speedily succumb to the onslaught of their myriad foes, the snakes and lizards fare no better, and even the formidable weapons of the centipedes and scorpions are overcome. In a wonderfully short time the foraging ants have done their work, the turmoil gradually ceases, the scattered parties again form into line and the army moves out of the house carrying its poils in triumph. When the inhabitants return they find every intruder gone, and to their great comfort may move about without treading on some unfortunate creature, or put on their shoes without knocking them on the floor to shake out a scorpion or a centipede. But those who are accustomed to the country are careful to keep out of the way. If a man should happen to cross the column the ants at once dash at him, climb up his legs, and bite with their powerful and poisonous jaws. His only safety is in running away until the main army is too far off to renew the attack and then destroying those which he has brought with him. This is not easy, for the ants have long, hooked jaws and bite so fiercely that they may be pulled away piecemeal, leaving the jaws in the wound to be picked out separately. Another species, E. Pradator, marches in broad, solid mass. It is a little creature, like our common red ant, but much brighter colored, making the trunk of a tree upon which many climb look as if smeared with a blood-red liquid. The South American Indians require their young men to undergo the ordeal of the Tocandeiros, or fire-ants, before they can be known as warriors, or even recognized as braves. A pair of mittens are made of the bark of the palm tree, long enough to cover the arms above the elbows, and are filled with the Tocandeiros. The candidate for warlike honors must put his hands into these bags of living fire and wear them while he makes the round of the village, and dances a jig at every pause. During this march he must wear a smiling face, and chant a kind of song so loud as to be heard above all the noise his companions may make upon rude horns and drums. He must not, by word, action, or look, show any sign of the torture which he endures; if he should, he will be the ridicule of his tribe, and even the maidens will refuse to know him. When the round of the village is complete, he must pause before the Chief with swifter dance, and louder chant, until he falls from exhaustion, and the burning gauntlets are removed. Then he has won his right to carry a spear with his tribe. —GeciVs Book of Insects.