AN ANT FUNERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2074, 27 February 1889, Page 3

AN ANT FUNERAL

A hdy givea thio uccount of some tin's which she saw m .Sydney, Hsviog killed a number of soldier ante, she returned m he-lf an hour to the npot whero she had left their dead bodies, aod m reference to what she than obßetvad ohe says: —

" I saw a large number cf ants surrounding tho dead ones. I determined to watch tholr proceedings oloaoiy. I followed four or five that started off from tho rest towards a hillock a nherfc distance oil, In which w»b an ante' nca'. Tlua they entered, and m < bout five miuuies they ro-appoared, followed by ctbers. All fell ir. to rank, and walked regularly and slowly two ty two nntll they arrived at the spot when 1 . lay the dead bodies of the soldier ants. la a few minutes two of the ants advanced and look np tho dead bod> of one of their oomrades, then two others, and so on until ail wero roady to m*roh. Firct walked two ant) bearing a body, then two without a burden, thtn two with another dead ant, »nd flu on until the line extended to about forty pairs, and tbe procession n)w moved ilowly onward, followed by an irregular body of aboot two hundred auts, Oc:u■lonaily the two ladeu anta stopped, and laying down the dead ant, it wai taken up by the two walking unburdened beoind them, and thus, by occasionally relieving eaoa other, they arrived at a sabdy spot near the bob, The body of ants now I commenced digging with their j»ws a number of holes m the ground, into eaoh of whJoh a dead ant was laid, where they cow labored on until they had fUed up tbe ants' graves; This did not quite finish tne remarkable olroumitinces attending this funeral of ants. Borne six or seven ot the ants had attempted to ran off without performing their share of the task of digging. These were caught and brought back, when they were at once attaoktd by the body of the ants and killed upon the ■pet. A single grave waa quiokly dug, and they were all drooped into it.