Some Facts About Ants.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 31, 31 July 1902, Page 29

Some Facts About Ants.

Ants, we know, ha\ c many wonderful institutions. They breed ancj keep cows, possess slaves, sow grain and reap the harvest, and in many other ways offer a rich lesson to tho? sluggard if ho would but bestir hiunsejf to read it. And now M. Charles Miessen, a French explorer, has another story of their, prowess to tell. Somewhere in Siam he saw an army of grey ants moving through the country. They were accompanied by a few specimens of a larger species. Upon each of these a grey ant was mounted, and the larger ants being ajso fleeter than the rank and file of the army, tho offi-< cers were thus enabled to gallop to and fro and control the movements of their troops. This is an extraordinary story, but whether or not it) be more startling than many other known startling feats of the lower orders is another question The other accomplishments of ants mentioned above are a parallel to one facet of the story ; another is to be found in the bird wonld. Tho small Canadian owl, which is no larger than a sparrow, has been seen riding on the back of a most unwilling gopher in the way that suggested that it was a habit, at any rate, with that particular individual.