Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1882 — Strategy vs. Strength. [ARTICLE]

Strategy vs. Strength.

Harper’s. ‘ The sand-hornet is the greatest vil-lain-that flies on insect wings, and he is built for a professional murderer. He carries two keen cimeters besides a deadly-poisoned poniard, and is armed throughout with an invulnerable coat of mail. He has things all his own way; he lives a life of tyranny and feeds on blood. There are few birds—none that I know of—that care to swallow such a red-hot morseL It is said that not even the butcher-bird hankers after him. The toad will not touch him,seeming to know by instinct what sort of Z chain-lightning he contains. Among insects this hornet is the harpy eagle, and nearly all of them are at his mercy. Even the cicada, or drum-ming.barvest-fly, an insect often larger and heavier than himself, is his very common victim. Considering these characteristics, it was of special interest to witness such an incident as I have here pictured, where one of these huge tyrants was actually captured and overpowered by the strategy of three black ants. I had left the meadow, and was ascending a spur of the mountain by the edge of a pine wood, when suddenly I espied the hornet in question almost at my feet. He immediately took to wing, and as be fleW on ahead of me I observed a long pendent object dangling from his body. The incumbrance proved too great fu obstacle for continuous flkht. and he soon dropped again upon the path, a rod or so in advance of me. I overtook him, and on close inspection discovered a plucky black aht clutching tightly with its teeth upon the hind foot of its captive, while with its two hind legs It clung desperately to a long cluster of pine needles which it carried as a dead-weight. No sooner did the hornet touch the ground than the ant began to tug and yell for help. There were certaitily evidences to* warrant such a belief, for a second ant immediately appeared upon the scene, emerging hurriedly from a neighboring thicket of pine-tree moss. He was too late, however, for the hornet again i sought escape in flight. But this attempt was even more futile' than the I

formed for the plucky little assailant had now laid hold of another imped* iment, and this time not only the long pine needles, but a small branched stick also, went swinging through the air. Only a yard or so was covered in this flight, and as the ant still yelled for re-enforcements, its companion again appeared, and rushed upon the common foe with such furious zeal that I felt like patting him on the back. The whole slgrftflcance of the scene be had taken in at a glance, and in an instant he had taken a vise-like grip upon the other hind leg. Now came the final tug of war. The hornet tried to rise, but this second passenger was too much for him; be could only buzz along the ground, dragging his load after him, while his new assailant clutched desperately at everything within its reach, now a dried lea', now a.tfny stone, and even overturning an aCorn-teup in ltd grasp. Finally, a rough stick the size of a match was secured, and this proved the “last straw.” In vain were the struggles of escape. The hornet could do no more than lift his body from the ground. He rolled and kicked and tumbled, but to no purpose, except to make it very lively for his captors; and the thrusts of that lively dagger were wasted on the desert air, for weether or not those ants knew its searching pro* pensities, they certainly managed to kt ep clear of this busy extremity. How long this pell-mell battle would have lasted I knownot, for a third ant now appeared, And it was astonishing to see him; with every movement of the hornet, he in turn would lay hold of a third stick, and at the same time clutch upon those pine needlee to add their impediment to the burden of his own body. Practically, the ants had won the victory, but what they intended to do with the floundering elephant in their hands seemed a But it was to them only a question of patience. They had now pinned their victim securely, and held him ta» await assistance. it came. ' The entire neighborhood had been appraised of the battle, and in less than fivSLjyiinufes the ground swarnleawith an army of reenforcements. They came from all directions; thevpitched upon that hornet with terrible reroctty, and his complete destruction was now no only a question of moments.