FORAGING ANTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6497, 23 December 1881, Page 6

FORAGING ANTS.

(Finstsmlk 6sntw^.) The most astonishing insrots, if not the most astonishing animals, in Uo world are the so-called •' foraging,” or, a* they might mow approjrialely be railed, tho military ant* of the Amaion. Iliey belong lo several sped## of the same genus, and hare hem eawfutlr watched by Bate*. Unit, and other naturalists. The following fact* must, therefore, be regarded as fully established. MeUSn l*jionU mote* in enorrmiu* amde*, and everything that these insect* do i* done with tha most perfect Instinct of miliiary organisation. The atmv nmrehes In the form of a rather broad and regular column, hundreds of yard# in length. Tho object of the march is to capture and plunder other insect#, Ac., for food, and as the well-orgaoisodl boil advance#, il® devastating legion* set all other tcmitrial life at defiance, From the mam columns there are sent on! smaller lateral columns, the composing Individuals of which play the part of scouts—branching off In various directions, and searching about with the utmost activity for insect*, grubs, &o„ over every log and under every fallen leaf. If prey is found in sufficiently email quantitlse for them to manage alone, it is immediately seised ksd carried to tho main column, but if the amount is too large for the scout# themselves to deal with, messengers are eent back to the mam column, whence there is immediately despatched a detachment largo enough to oope with the requirements. Insects or other prey which, when killed, are too large for single ante to carry, are tom in pieces, and the pieces conveyed back to the main army by different individuals. Many insects in trying to escape run up bushes and shrubs, where they are pursued from branch to branch and twig to twig by their remorseless enemies, till on arriving at some terminal ramification they must either submit to immediate capture by their pursuers, or drop down amid the murderous hosts beneath. As already stated, all tho spoils which are taken by the scouts, or by the detachments ssnt out in answer to their demands for assistance, are immediately taken hack to the main army or column. When they arrive these they are conveyed to the rear of that column by two smaller columns of carrier*, which are constantly sunning in two double rows (one of each being laden and the other not) on either side of the main column. On either side of the main column there are are also constantly running up and down a few individuals of smaller site, fighter colour, and having larger head* than tho other ante. These appear to perform tha doty of officers, for they never leave their stations, and while actively running np and down the outsides of the column, they seem intent only on maintaining order in the march—stopping every now and then to touch some member of the rank and file with their antenna*, as if giving directions. When tho scoots discover a wasp’s nest in a tree, a strong force u sent out from tho main army, the nest is palled to pieces, and all the larva* in the nest are carried by the carrier columns to the rear of the army, while the wasps fly around, defenceless against the invading multitudes. Or, if the nest of any other * pedes of ant is found, a similarly strong force is eent out, or even the whole army may be deflected toward it, when with the utmost energy the innumerable insects set to work to sink shafts and dig mines till the whole nett is rifled of its contents. In the-e mining operations the Beltons work with an extraordinary display of organised co-operations i for those low down in the shaft do not lose time by carrying up the earth which they excavate, but pass on tho pellets to those above, and the ants on the surface, when they receive the pellets, carry them only just far enough to insure that they do not roll back again into the shaft, and, after having deposited them at a safe distance, immediately hurry back for mors. The £dtons have no fixed nest themselves, but live, ae it were, on a perpetual campaign. At night, however, they eall a halt and pitch a camp. For thi* purpose they usually select apiece of broken ground, in store their plunder. In the morning the army Is again on the march, atad before an hour or two has pasted not a single anile to be seen where thousands and million* had previously covered the ground.