Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1899 — A Fountain of Ants. [ARTICLE]

A Fountain of Ants.

The house I was then occupying was a bungalow, and, as In the case with many bungalows, the inner walls were constructed of merely sun-dried bricks, and In the recesses of one wall a colony of white ants had established a nest. It was evening; I was commencing dinner. I heard behind me a buzzing sound; I turned, and from a hole near the bottom of the wall I beheld a fountain of young white ants ascending. They reached the ceiling, and then the descent commenced. They alighted by thousands on the table, and there shook off their wings. In a few minutes the cloth, the plates, the glasses, even the lamp shades,, were covered with the little white, feeble, crawling creatures. The fountain of ants continued to play for at least ten minutes. When next morning the floor was swept the wings that the ants had shaken off filled a large basket. What became of the ants themselves I cannot say.—From “Haunts and Hobbies of an Indian Official,” by Thornhill.