Show AFRICAN ANT ARMIES the rile lit in tile tho kalial their enemies the termites or mahito nuts ants build for themselves houses or tills hills of an ali ft average height of three feet above the ground and three feet in diameter at t the lie base conical in and sometimes adorned with one or two pinnacles j in ili rare cases the tills hills riso rise to a height of four or five feet tile the substance of which they are constructed earth mixed with a secretion from their own bodies being c is as hard as celli cement elit mixed with willi water it is used as a mortar in kayin laying n brick and as 1 a I covering covering f for or the floors of kraals and tile houses of the dutch inhabitants it makes strong 9 water and damp proof floor till the ant houses lit in the interior ire arc divided into apartments connected by galleries the aneg have anion among themselves regular guards and ami sol soldiers w who ho when a breach is made in their dv dwelling elling rush forth in its defense and muster the working r ants who curiously enough are without eyes to repair the dania damage C and in a surprisingly short lime the lie swarms of ants will have effected ill repairs and everything will be right and quiet ar again aill an animal ties dies on oil tho the veldt soon the vultures will have torn off liis ills tilde hide and devour all of it excepting the bones tile then tile the ants in their turn clean and polish those so that within twenty flour hours after death there will remain only tile the bones smooth aud and polished insi inside 1 c and out and what was the lay day previous a living 0 animal is now a disjointed and whitened ned skeleton these ants are most destructive to every thing wooden they attack and eat the door and window f frames values floor timbers and floors of houses making no show of their ravages ravages on oil tile the exterior but devouring the wood until there remains only boniv a shell ashell and tc tile surprise of tile the chell dweller cr the slamming of a door or the lie dropping of a window may result lit in the total collapse collapse 0 of its frame which falls lit in a cloud of dust clust the black ants make most remarkable journeys or iiii migrations rations and when on oil the road travel in immense numbers lit in a body bod from a foot to several yards in width and bein being 0 from half an all hour to an all hour pa passing silla i given given 1 point in ill these journeys the they y tu turn v ii neither to the right hand nor tile lie left stop stopping pilim only wilcia coming to water any obstruct ob tion like a house or tree they pass over over 5 warming swarming up till one side and down the other should they find an all open door or window wolf wo be to t that ii at house bouse the kafars in their cruel manner of punishing their enemies sometimes fasten tile poor victim to the ground round in the way of these ants and lie is almost devoured before life becomes ext extinct inet tile insects will not leave the body until every bone is 13 polished the ant tills hills ire are to a traveler useful lit in one way by scooping scoop iii out one side mid and part of the interior and making snaking a fire in file he cavity lie he lia ha a most excellent oven which cretai retains Is the cicat well I 1 have eaten caten of often tell bread and meat baked lit in these primitive but good ovens A peculiarity of these ants is th eliat it on oil a warm evening about the middle of march millions of them with wings said to bo be the females infest tile the houses attracted by the lights their will wings C 3 at are c ii light lit and 0 gauzy auzy lasting la M them for tills ili night lit only they drop them off and disappear I 1 have seen flying ants so 0 thick lit in a billiard room as to put a stop slop to tile playing and so much of a nuisance as to drive people anva away y from a dinin dining table south soma africa cor san francisco chronicle achl |