THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



THERE are other armies in South 

 Africa besides the Boers and 

 the British ; armies of very little 

 folk, which go out on foraging 

 expeditions when their colonies stand 

 in need of supplies forays planned 

 and executed with military precision, 

 and, as a general thing, uniformly suc 

 cessful. 



I speak of an army of ants. 



A close observer, residing in South 

 Africa, describes one of these forays 

 in the following way: 



"The army, which I estimated to 

 number about fifteen thousand ants, 

 started from their home in the mud 

 walls of a hut and marched in the 

 direction of a small mound of fresh 

 earth, but a few yards distant. The 

 head of the column halted on reaching 

 the foot of the mound and waited for 

 the rest of the force to arrive at the 

 place of operations, which evidently 

 was to be the mound of fresh earth. 

 When the remainder had arrived and 

 halted so that the entire army was as 

 sembled, a number of ants detached 

 themselves from the main body and 

 began to ascend to the top of the 

 mound, while the others began mov 

 ing so as to encircle the base of the 

 mound. 



"Very soon a number from the de 

 tachment which had ascended the 

 mound, or lilliputian kopje, evidently 

 the attacking party, entered the loose 

 earth and speedily returned, each bear 

 ing a cricket or a young grasshopper, 

 dead, which he deposited upon the 

 ground and then returned for a fresh 

 load. Those who had remained on 

 the outside of the mound, took up the 

 crickets and grasshoppers as they were 

 brought out and bore them down to 

 the base of the hill, returning at once 

 for fresh victims. Soon the contents 

 of the mound seemed to be exhausted, 

 and then the^ whole force returned 

 home, each ant carrying his burden of 

 food for the community." 



My very young readers will be sur 

 prised, no doubt, to hear me speak of 

 A'asps as cement-makers, or paper- 

 :nakers, but such, in truth, they are. 



You can form no idea of the industry 

 and toil these little folk expend upon 

 the structure they call home. Noth 

 ing pleases them better than to find an 

 old fence rail coveredwith a light gray 

 fuzz of woody fiber loosened from de 

 caying wood by excessive soakings of 

 rain. Dozens of these little pulp- 

 gatherers will descend upon the rail, 

 and as fast as each of them obtains a 

 load away he flies to the place where 

 the home building is already going on. 

 This may be in a clump of bushes 

 near a stream, and as fast as they de 

 posit tbeir load of fiber down they fly 

 to the stream, and having secured a 

 mouthful of water back they go to the 

 nest to beat the fiber into a thin sheet, 

 which they deftly join to the main 

 body, the jointure being imperceptible. 

 Such a throng of workers coming and 

 going, some to the fence, some to the 

 nest, some to the brook, each addition 

 to the structure being the tiniest mite, 

 yet growing perceptibly under the 

 united efforts of the little builders. 



TAR. One of the commonest sub 

 stances met with in city or town is tar. 

 A paper roof covered with tar makes a 

 very good protection against sun and 

 rain provided a suitable amount of 

 gravel covers the tar. The kind of tar 

 most used is called coal-tar or gas-tar. 

 This is made at the gas factory from 

 the distilling of soft coal. Tar that 

 comes from different varieties of pine 

 and spruce is used to cover ropes and 

 hulls of ships. It is from his having 

 some of it usually clinging to his hands 

 and clothes that the sailor boy came to 

 be called "Jack Tar," and from his 

 fondness for the sea one of the royal 

 family of England got the pet name 

 of "Royal Tarry Breeks." It is strange 

 that there has been no change in the 

 work of getting this kind of tar from 

 the wood for over twenty-three hundred 

 years. The wood is placed in holes 

 dug in the ground and covered carefully 

 with turf so as to keep out the air and 

 prevent too much burning. Some of 

 the wood is left free so the air may get 

 at it and burn it enough to make heat 

 enough to distil the pitch from the rest 



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