Ants. 185 



at the tiler. His antennae are laid back out of the way, 

 but his jaws are quite handy, and if you get into trouble 

 don't come bawling to me. I warned you. 



Some ants do not have any nest at all, but just roll up 

 into a big ball when night comes. They move in a column 

 about four feet wide, and everything in their path has to 

 look out for itself except the birds in the trees. Cock- 

 roaches, fool-like, run under the first thing they see and 

 their end is sudden. Spiders show considerable intelli- 

 gence in getting out of the way, but old grand-daddy 

 longlegs stands his ground, lifting up one leg and then 

 another out of the way till sometimes all but three of his 

 eight are in the air, outwardly calm, but inwardly a prey 

 to the direst fear. It is this ant that makes life in the 

 tropics less of a struggle with certain forms of low life 

 mentioned in Chapter VI. Sometimes our own Western 

 Indians, particularly those that have an old-maidish and 

 fussy desire for more solitude in their clothing, lay their 

 furs and blankets on an ant-hill and achieve the desired 

 results, even though the exterminators are not so destruc- 

 tive as the South American ants that have been seen to 

 kill a four-foot snake. The natives say that no boa con- 

 strictor will swallow its victim till it has looked around 

 for ants that might devour it while heavy with sleep. 



The formicary Four Hundred, however, dig their 

 dwellings in the earth, and have probably done much to 

 make the soil cultivable. They know the use of the arch, 

 and their architecture shows greater adaptability than the 

 bee's. These homes are practically permanent, since 

 under favorable circumstances queens will live from 

 eight to ten years and workers six or seven. The males 

 do not count for much. Their function is analagous to a 

 penny cake of yeast for the family baking. The males 

 and the virgin queens are winged, and on a September 



