Show A Ant w oddities es ere t a ell a t x of F I o m o. o w 1 Fight to the Finish Between Red and nd Black Ants Anla Per ored n by National nal Society Washington 1 U. U O. O wN w n MJ v Sen service Ice IKI I humans there are all L kinds of ants busy ants busy ants and andants andants andants ants that live on the of others One often feels sorry for some of the Industrious species of ot Formica solid citizens but really the tile for fot forgotten gotten jotten ants because they seem scorn to tobe tobe be he preyed upon by every sort of warrior ant and their nests are nearly near near- ly Iy always shared with various guests and parasites Two kinds of ants very ery different different differ differ- ent from each other sometimes Il Ike together amicably each ench occupying a separate part of the same Bame nest and contributing to the general wel uel- fare The rhe little shampoo ant rax tax discovered ered by Dr William Morton Wheeler of liar Har- yard vard In la the peat pent bogs of Connecticut Connect cut lives fives In the nests of a much larger species When the worker needs food It approaches the Myr Myr- mica worker and proceeds to shamPoo shampoo shampoo sham sham- poo and lick tick It IL The M ob ob- obviously enjoys this for It regurgitates regurgitates tates food to the tile One day In a scientist was Investigating an ant nest consisting con can of ot a mass of earth six Inches In diameter in a fork tork of a tree He lie tapped this nest gently with his forceps and the surface was as Immediately covered with small email reddish brown ants of the genus When he rouged gouged Into the nest to find the various va vs rious forms a swarm of ot machus rushed out and one of them stun stung him was n dozen times as bl big as the Dolich and provided with strong bitIng bit bit- Ing jaws and a red hot sting Finding a Rare Ant Often Otten ant hunters bunters get as big a thrill from a successful search for fora a rare ant as a big game hunter hunt hunt- er from the capture of giraffes or elephants There is about as much physical exertion Involved In too turning over thousands of stones and logs digging Into the earth chopping hard wood and peeling bark from Innumerable dead trees Luck infrequently plays an Important Important Im Im- Im port part In 1001 1901 Father Schmitt a Jesuit missionary sent to the great Forel of Switzerland a single specimen of a new new and extraordinary ant from Haiti I Fore Torel orel described It ani and named the genus after lifter his good goodfriend goodfriend friend Carol Emery of Bologna and the species after the Jesuit schmitt The rhe lone specImen specimen ape was long the only representative tive of Its kind In collections In Haiti Matti at the end of a 1 months month's work a student found one solitary worker along a II roadside He lie hud had no tooth fine-tooth comb with him hat but for two months he tried every other other oth oth- er method he knew v of to discover the nest of more of the workers Then one evening he lie went for forn foro n o stroll Just before dinner and noticed noticed no no- on the path a millipede or thousand thousand logger legger moving In an unnatural un an- natural way Rending Bending over he saw v that the millipede was dead dod and was seas ns being carried by an ant The ant was I It took all nil his strength of character char char- after acter to ke keep p from seizing both ant and prey at once but he be smoked his pipe as calmly as he could and watched the ant till It lel leisurely entered a II small hole bole at one side of ofa a flat fiat stone When hn the stone atone was turned over there was an entire colony of some sixty workers Later In the same lame locality he found a similar colony col col- ony and specimens of these have row now been distributed to all the Important Important Important Im Im- Im- Im ant collections In museums muse muse- urns all over the No Female of the Species There were no females In either nest so ID It Is not Improbable that tha t this species s lacks a special female femah I and ond that one of the workers functions functions tunc- tunc as 11 egg layer At night there ther came to light lIht In the students student's quarters which from Its 1111 tern a reddish ant general character was assumed to tobe tobe tobe be the male of or the species He lie had talked about became so as much that It well feU known to the scant white pop pop- popI I of If the Island under the name of Mary Ilary 1 Ella lIa Schmitt and when he finally reported his discovery dis covery covert there was a great celebration celebration tion among his fellow tellow Americans railroad men vacationing at Port Port- ou au au Prince Another missionary priest Pere Salle S had bud sent to the museum In Paris from Haiti a curious nest of vegetable fiber Ober not unlike a wasps wasp's nest A scientist while rummaging about among the tile specimens found It and tapped It on oa a piece of white paper Several dead and end dried ants dropped out They belonged to the genus l the most exquisitely ex ex- formed of the ants and with beautiful metallic coloration coloration- purples greens and reds The genos ge- ge genus genus ge ge- nus nos Is Interesting too too because It alone of the ants of the West tYest Indies In dies hat has developed Into numerous species About thirty are known from Cuba alone Fire Ant Is II a Stinger The fire lire ant gemina gemina- ta Is such a good traveler that one variety or another Is found throughout through out the warmer parts of the earth parth i It gets Its name from the painful burning sting sling It can Inflict A colony col ony contains vast numbers of work work- ers era They have hove recently been reported reported reported re re- ported as os going great damage to young quail In the southeastern sta states tes Fire ants nest In almost any kind of locality and are ore extremely pro pro- prolific Even flood cannot daunt the theOre fire Ore ant for It has hu been reported in Brazil that when the water rises and washes out n a colony the ants antA form forro a boll ball queer queed and brood Inthe Inthe In tn the middle and this living ball floats an away ay to a tree or to tD higher ground The tailor ant sOlar sOlar- and a few other ants are unique among all 1111 the earths earth's creatures so far as ns Is known In that they use their young joung as tools In nest construe tion Few adult Insects spin silk silk but the larvae of many have hae this ability abil ity to enclose themselves in silken cocoons from which they will later emerge as fully formed adults Oe Oe- utilizes this accomplishment accomplish accomplish- went ment of its young o ng In making Us its nests Scientists have bave often torn one of the leaves that form torm its Ita box box- shaped nest and then watched the proceedings At first there Is II a wild sortie on the part of or the ants all In fightIng fighting fight fight- Ing mood They cannot sting sling but they bite annoyIngly After they have given up trying to find Ond and destroy tIle the Intruder worker ants seize larvae In their mandibles and bring them to the damaged por pot Other workers seize the edges of the leaves and pull pun th them m together while those with the larvae lanne pass them back and forth stimulating hating lating the Ule grub to exude nude silk aUk which sticks and holds the pieces rf M the thelea lea leaves Cs together Live In the Tree TrIo Tops Tope In the tile Solomon Islands this pugnacious pug abounds On the Island of an ant hunter had for two weeks the unusual and delightful gOO good fortune for a naturalist nat of being able to collect among the tops of high trees A plantation company was waa felling the orl original forest clearing the land for coconuts One enormous tree after another was felled and andas as soon as It came down he would go among the upper branches and collect was abundant and he reported that there was wal scarcely a moment of daylight during those two weeks when an ant was not Dot biting him on the neck He lie would Instinctively reach up and seize Idze the little creature break Its neck between his hll thumb and forc forefinger nger and go on collecting put Hut once as he on one of them Ulem he be noticed that It was Will un an- unusually usually hard It t was 88 s another ant a rare and desirable After that It was necessary for him to seize ench each attacking ant n and carefully carefully care tare fully examine It before fore destroying It so as liS not to tn crush rush a valuable le specimen by mistake |