Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1879 — THE AGRICULTURAL ANT OF TEXAS. [ARTICLE]

THE AGRICULTURAL ANT OF TEXAS.

A Wonderful Inaeet-Hla Kxtrmerdl nary Syateon of Political Wfowoaay— Hia Roadway Oomtrsetlsa usd tllalmg Oymtloai-How Hs lTurfee His Dead -Etc., Etc. [Extracts from a Paper Head iu JB~ M. Holm. X. D.,^ Before th. Chicago 4£ide|j^V * At Houston I had an excellent opportunity of observing these ant a lot? their homes are found even in the streets of that city, and all the country round. ' I oheerved that they selected for their cities, or “Formicaries,” %s McCook calls them, the most places. Standing upon the railrofd track, which passes through a wide expanse of prairie, I was astonished at the number of their habitations. ■ On erety side,' as far as the eye could distinguish their mounds, or open places around them, I could nave counted them by thousands without turning around in. my steps. It , was like standing upon tho Chicago water-workstower. looking around upon the habitations of the great city. - —jAfter remaining here a few day a* I went to Austin, where Dr. McCook made the most of his observation^. I found that no particular kind of soil was cnjbsen in preference by them. They w-ere\ equally at home m stony ground, in Windy loam or fine gravel. They did not, however,'' like a thick' turf, and I never saw a formicatory placed in such a location. They* prefer to live where the grass is thin, or where there is none at all. They reside an hills, in valleys, on the prairie, in the streets, in gardens, and even in places where it has been paved with flat stones, through which they find exit bv the cracks in the cement by which thik are joined. An ant community consists of males, females, major-workers and minor-workers. The last two differ from each other; the major has a longer head. The workers compose the bulk of the population. They do the most of the in-uoor and out-door work. The males are she drones. The females, or queens, attend to the rearing of the young ants, and originate the fonnicatories. These four divisions, together with the domesticated animals, make up the living beiqgsof an ant city. Were Ito describe these ants as historians describe a j>eople, I would say they are an agricultural nation, living in the soutltem portion of the United States, chiefly in Texas, a portion of Arkansas, the Indian Territory and a strip of Louisiana. A similar nation have their habitat in Florida. The agricultural ant builds a city under ground, with halls, streets, gas- , leries, chambers, nurseries, etc. The city’is entered bytwo gated on tho surface. ■ These gates may be on the level ground, or on the summit of a mound. Around these gates on all sides, or -one, or softfetimes at a distance, lie their farms or plantations. This plantation Dr. McCouk calls a “ disc.” To make this disc, the ant proceeds just as a farmer does who locates in a timbered country. They proceed to make a “cfcarifrg,’ - T e.. they cut dowti all the grass, weeds and small shrubs which are useless to them, only allowing certain grasses or plants to remain as are capable of bearing seed, upon which they live. All over this clearing stand the stumps of grass just as the “ stumps” stand in the clearings made by man. It is still an undecided question whether an ant sows crops, or whether he merely leaves such graces as he-needs, and relics on nature to do the sowring.

As OD6 dUUIILs and oafa at their wbrfc he caunot help earn in«r the analogy further, fgr just outside of ' space he Bdbs§gangs of anls t npaged m extending the el earing. The cutting of the grass, etc., the ants accomplish easily by means of their sharp and strong jaw, which can cut as saws, chisel*, or scissors, as -the case demands. Dr. Lincicum says that In the fall of the year, after the grain of the jieedlegrass has been harvested, the %traw is , cut down and removed, learinzlEe farm clear till the next season. Here again is the fanner imitated by these intelligent creatures. Their farms vary in size. I saw some six and sight feet is diameter. Dr. McCook saw some twelve feet' But this cleared disc does not include all their plantation. Outside of it are small open spaces where some clearing has been done, and where they evidently do some harvesting, and to which their roads reach, "fteir roads and highways are very interestiag. From their city gates” reached outih t*o <9 three, often eight or ten directions,-well-built, hard and straight roads. They are from two to five inches wide. Dr. McCook mentions one that at the gates was six inches wide; at six inches, was four wide; at a foot x away, was three and a half four feet# two inches; at ten feetrbne Inch, The' &*&&&&& one over three .hundred feet long. I traced several nearly fifty feet, and §pubtless the slKrp 'epei of the ants can trace them many times as far*, for to the humsn eye they gradually iprpw snudler until they almost imperceptibly blend with the epea spaces between the tuft* of grass. These roads are for the purpose of reaching their fields and harvesting grounds, and all day, and even in the night, hundreds of ante are going and coming on them, reminding one at the people going to, “ < L C PS Ung f ™ m » W town on market days. The following illustrates the plan of their work: AS»e nest is a neat which the gates are on the n.-u with a crop of needle-grass onrt. gates-are the entrances to the underground homes of the community. Just inside at the gate is the vestibule where they unite, and from this vestibule extend galleries to the jStoEwjSL f “/ p***” of

The gates are ouodfflitl to one-half an in chin diameter. Often there is only a single gats, sometimes only three or four, but generally, only two, which are usually separate an inch or two apart. Sometimes they are connected by a sunken road. The vestibule is usually aa inch add a half ftooi the smv face; u is one to two inches wide, and one-half to three-fourths of an inch high, and qdite smooth. *» Dr. McCook, who pretty thoroughly explored their subterranean cities, gives extensive descriptions, excellently illustrated by drawings made on the ground. The rooms, especially the granaries, were plastered with a Kind of cement, smooth and hard. The granaries which Dr. MeCook saw were filled with a mixture of green and same husked and some not. No Illinois farmer could fill his granaries with better judgment. The seeds, small grains like rice, and the seeds of grasses, are piled op neai% to the roof; narrow gangways are left at the outer margin, between the grain-heaps the wall. In some cases, to |rrevent the grabs from sprouting? the seeds are covered with a glutinous material. In some granaries nearly a pint of seed has been found. These granaries are often found two or three feet below the sarfAceof die ground. The galleries, extend many feet below the surface. lAT gentleman informed me that in excavating for a well he has found them eighteen feet below the surface. After my return from Texas, I sent to my friend Eugene Bartholomew, of for a colony of ants. They were sent by express in a tin box perforated with small holes. Only a few died on the journey. I placed them in ajar. TherC were probably fifty ants. The jar was filled with moist, sandy loam. At first they wandered about apparently in muck agitation and curiosity, examining every portion erf the surface; but in less than an hour a few began excavating a hole nearlhe sedge of tfie glass. I supposed they would begin in -the cepter ol tW jar. f ' * They dig wifft gfiergjvnWhlas a dog digs for a rat, throwing up the dirt with their fore legs, and throwing it still further with their hind ones. Often the hole is so deep that the dirt cannot be thrown out; the mandibles are used, and they seize the dirt and press it into small pellets by the aid of the point of the abdomen.* These they carry out and scatter on the surface above, placing them principally on the Opposite side of the jar, so that the surface soon becomes an inclined plane. , When one ant becomes weary, another takes its place, and so soon as the gallery is large enough several work together. Their various positions when mining greatly interested me. They willlie <m the side or on the back, just ad-colliers do in coal mines. Hieir wonderful. forbearan<%. -and good temper is amazing. They do not turnout for each other generally, but a worker will walk right over his comrades, overturning them, even wAli carrying loads; but I never have seen the slightest approach to an angry or impatient action. ' "Jr In Texas, near Austin, the earth is composed in some plaoes almost wholly of granules of silicia of the size of duck-shot/ some larger, some smaller. The mounds in such [daces are wholly made up squall stones. Their individual weight is ten times as much as a single ant, yet they carry them ’Without any difficulty. If they ohme upon a small stick they djg around it until it is loosed then one or more will take it as men would a piece of timber, and carry it above ground. By close inspection of this iar it will be observed that the galleries are dug in various directions, but they all seem to go to a common gallery, which runs around the bottom. Here the ants love to congregate, amuse and clean themselves, ana perhaps engage in “grave debate.” They are never all below the surface, at least I have always found one or two on the surface, acting as sentinels, for on dropping anything on the surface they immediately run to it, examine it, and, if they think it necessarv, they go to the opening of the gallery, give some alarm, and several come trooping up.

Their food consists of the seeds of small grasses. These seeds,” under the microscope, resemble oats and barley. A species of pepper-grass is always found growing on their farms. All other vegegation except those which they use as food is cut down and carried off. But they are not vegetar«ns. They are carnivorous, eating with avidity nearly all small insects. Ffed these in this jar with butterflies, spiders, small be*-* ties and earthworms. On one occasion a large wasp was put in, and before he could recover from the shock was pounced, upon, maimed and captured. Their actions when attacking a spider or wasp were very interesting, . reminding one of a pack of bull-dogs. They rush excitedly around with open mandibles and angry appearan ce. Seizing an opportunity they lay hold of - a wing, leg, or antennae, and all the frantic efforts of the victim cannot shake them off. I have seen a wasp rise and fly around the jar with-live; or sin. ants hanging to various portions of hi* body. While holding oh with their jaws they sting the victim, and otherwise worry till he dies, •'then they calmly mskect him. The wing&and legs they carry and deposit upon toe refuse heap which they always have. The' juicy bodies they, either feed upon on the spot or carry down below and place with the other food deposits, to be brought up and placed with the rubbish when the juices are sucked out. They are fond of sugar, cake and sweet fruit. My colony eat peaches and pears with avidity, and would carry off into their granaries all the homeopathic sugar globules they could jjet. The principal food of these ants in the jar has been coarse oat meal, which they are quite fond of.

While they lap up the soft juices of insects and fruits, they evidently do not eat, so to Speak, the hists substances of grain. Dr. McCook is of opinion, from his observations, that they rasp off with the tongue the starch powder onjbuT grain and lick -up the oils . and juices. In fact, their eating is a “ steady licking” of the surface of the Seed. He ikens it-totoe linking of a cat or dog. Dbme. of their attitudes when eating are strongly suggestive of the squirrel or monkey; holding the fragment of seed in their paws, thev lick it as a squirrel gnaws a nut. Miss Treat,'in observing the eating habits of an allied species, the Florida harvesting' 'ants say they feed their young as. birfsdo, aftd that the young ants hold tip fheir .mouths for the; food, like young robins. , ll l #. toihabits of these ante are neatness personified. They cannot endure untidiness in their own person or others among themselves. * They clean thematics eating Jmd sleeping with scrupulous care. For this purpose they like to gather in groups on the aide of the jar where the siffdight or gaslight is strongest, and dress themselves or vsht their companions. k They have a very interesting habitof ■ leaving windows, so to speak, when digging their tunnels. The windows are lyhew the tnjmel is left open against the side of the glass jar, and are about a third of an inch in diameter and half k an inch high. In these windows the ant like* to ait and beautify herself, have seen, two ants at a window taking turns washing each oth«-V?TheylieeS to enjoy their cleaning and washing process greatly, leaning over in various positions so as to allow their friends to gOftil ?ver their body. Many»f their

of the cat that the similarity is vaxy striking. The motion erf the powawben washing the head is peculiarly cat-like. Their gymnastic feats when cleaning themselves sire truly astonishing. They resemble gymnasts on the turning bar, or a performer on the trapece. Hanging by one paw to a blade of grass, they will eonb and wash every portion of the body with tjie most surprising nonchalance. After placing bits of sugar in the iar and moistening them, the ants lick them with as much avidity as school children, and, like children, get their hands all "stock up” ‘with it. Then, conies a troublesome time. I have seen four or five ants hard at work trying to get the sugar from the limbs and paws of an unfortunate epicure. And they work with the greatest patience till their oomrade is presentabik.. Their sleeping habits are very curious. They love to sleep after meals, when their toilet is done., They go to sleep in every conceivable position, but prefer some eminence, like a clod, pit of wood or the ride of the jar. Unlike the bat, their paws are ‘ not involuntarily prehensile, and it is very amusing to watch them go to sleep clinging to some object* wd»/frheo fts* arirvp, fafl off suddenly. But they quietly climb dip and try it over agaip. Their actions amen waking are ludicrously similar to those of sound-sleeping mortals. They yawn and stretch, torn on one ride, then on the other, and, when, thor-.

ooghly waked up, begin to wash and comb themselves. , ’ \ Their funerals have a peculiar interest. When one of their number is sfckj or maimed, they are very careful of him, going up to him frequently, and stroking Him with their rfhtcnn*, as if pitying nim in bis trouble'. I have seen, an ant take up very tenderly a siok friend and entry him below. I have watched him carry him down to the lowest gallery, where it was warm and dry, ana carefully lay him down; and when this same ant was dead, this same friend or another would cany him above ground and bury him in the cemetery. The word cemetery may strike you as odd, but I assure yon they have them. In Texas each city of ants had a cemetery situated just outside the cultivated grounds. It is used not only as a place to bury the dead, but to deposit all sorts of refuse which has accumulated in the city limits. In this jar you can see the cemoteiy where they have deposited, and tried to bury their unfortunate comrades, and mixed up with the dead bodies, cDarafembered as they always are, various refuse stuff which they have cleared off their grounds, or brought up from the galleries below.

They seem greatly perplexed, in the jar, as to the proper place to bury their dead, for they evidently waqttb cany' Pthem at a greater distance. ..Their inherited instinct impels thtas tp try and carry them eight or ten that is the ordinary limits of their domain. So they wander excitedly and anxiously around, vainly trying to climb the sides of the jar; but ever falling back with their burden of sorrow. Even after, leaving them on the heap or half buried, the living do not seem quite reconciled to their presence, for now and then one of them will disinter a body and carry it round and round for many minutes. Miss Treat relates a curious habit of the formica sanguinse, or slave-making ants. They ao not deposit their dead black slaves with their own dead. In this respect they seem to possess the same color prejudice or caste prejudice which still exists in this country. I cannot omit saying something relating to the rapidity of their movements. Comparing their size with that of a man, w T e get the following astonishing results: t i An ant, three-eighths of an inch long, carrying a-burden of one-sixth of a grain, moves at the rate of one Anile in eleven hours. The weigbtr(a small one compared with that they can carry) is eighteen times their own. They compare with a man five and a half feet high, weighing 140 pounds, carrying a weight of 2,500 pounds at the rate of 176 miles in eleven hours. The fact is, that these ants will carry burdens a hundred times their own weight, as if a lumberman could take up, in a supposed pair of mandibles attached to his heaa; a saw-log weighing thousands of pounds, and carry it many miles. Compared with this achievement the building of the pyramids was boy's play. If man were as strong comparatively, a few hundred could dig ; the inter*oceanic. canal across the Isthmus of Darien, even at the widest part of it, jn a few days, and tunnel the mountains in the same time.

These ants have no mean weapons of defense and offense. Their sting is venomous as that of a honey-bee, and their mandibles are of enormous strength. I have never seen a battle Of these ants with their enemies, but I have witnessed them in attacking and killing hornets, spiders and other insects. They -do not seem to know fear, but will singly attack a venomous insect ten times their own size. Great and decisive battles WwebnJ these ants and their enemies have been described by Dr. Lincicum, McCook, and Mis# Treat. Compared with human battlfci, thet will vie iif slaughter an# bravery any. of the gn at b.attjes in top World's fiistoiy. They 3d *m>t *ill, but, like the warriors of the Middle Ages, they sever the head from the body by a few strokes of their mandibles, or tear their enemies limb from limb. They not only make war On different species, but, like human beings, will make war upon rival colonies of their own when tney are jealous of territorial encroachment. An examination of the bodies of dead ants after a battle discloses as many forms of mutilation, ghastly wounds and horrid fractures as any number of war's human victims cpukl show. The enemieß of the agricultural ant "Spiders are among the most potent. In .prder to test their power over the .ante in my colony I introduced one of the common house spiders. In an hottr pr two he had spun a web* and had caught a victim and was feasting on huh.' Giving him a pinch with a pair of forceps sufficiently to stun him, I dropped him among the ants, who soon finished him and made a meal of him. —lnter- Ocean.