?88 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



ehelter themselves completely from ihe rain. The 

 longest and luliiest cliamber is placed near the 

 cenire ol" the nest, and here all the galleries ter- 

 minate ; the subterranean chambers are horizon- 

 tal. In the evening, the ajserrure of the nests of 

 eome anis is always closed, and in the morninir 

 re-opened ; but accordiny' to Hnlier, the brown ant 

 has been seen to work durii]g a moon light 

 ni^hf. 



Having in the day time noticed some aphides 

 upon a thistle, he exan)ined it again in the night 

 about eleven o'clock, and found his ants busy 

 niilking their cows. At the same hour, another 

 night, he observed, on an elder-tree, the little ne- 

 gro-ant engaged in the same employment. 



From the result of then' labors, it might he in- 

 <(irred that they were actuated by a conmion me- 

 chanical instinct, yet this is by no means the case : 

 no two apartments are alike in the same nest; 

 and no two nests have exactly the same arrange- 

 ments. Each ant seems capable of conceiving a 

 a particular plan, which is in some marmer made 

 intelligible to the rest, and practically executed. If 

 pieces of straw be ])laced conveniently for its pur- 

 pose, an ant, after careful examination, proceeds 

 to make use of this appropriate supply ol" male- 

 rials. In another case it would have to drag bits 

 of stubble, then arrange them, and then build. 

 The operations of these insects v-ary very much 

 from the beautiful and geometrically precise labor 

 of bees. Indeed they seem to act so completely 

 according to the exiQ;encies of each case, that the 

 moving power which impels and guides their op- 

 erations approaches so closely to human reason, 

 that to establish a distinction appears extremely 

 difficult. 



The strength and perseverance of ants are per- 

 fectly wonderlul. Kirby state, that he once saw 

 two or three horse-ants hauling along a young 

 enake not dead, which was of the thickness of a 

 goosequill. St. Pierre relates, that he saw a num- 

 ber of ants carrying off a Patagonian centipede : 

 they had seized it by all its legs, and bore it along 

 as workmen do a large piece of timber. Nothing 

 can divert them from any purpose which they 

 have undertaken to execute. In warm climates 

 they may be frequently seen marching in columns 

 which exceed all power of enun>eration ; always 

 pursuing a straight course, from which nothing 

 can cause them to deviate : if they come to a 

 house or other building, the^^ storm or undermine 

 it ; if a river cross their path, they will endeavor 

 to swim over it, though millions perish in the at- 

 tempt. 



It is related of the celebrated conqueror Timour, 

 that being once forced to take shelter from his 

 enemies in a ruined building, he sat alone many 

 hours: desirous of diverting his mind fiom hie 

 hopeless condition, he fixed his observation upon 

 an ant which was carrying a grain of corn (pro- 

 bably a pupa) larger than itself, up a high wall. 

 Numbering the efforts that it made to accomplish 

 this object, he found' that the grain fell sixty-nme 

 times to the ground ; but the seventieth time it 

 reached the top of the wall. "This sight," said 

 Timour, "gave me courage at tlie moment, and 

 I have never forgotten the lessen it conveyed." 



The Jesuit Dobrizhod'er, in his History of the 

 Abipones, gives the ibllovving very singular ac- 

 count of the ravages of anis known in Paraguay. 

 He furnishes no means of tiscerluining the species 



who«e proceedings he describes. "The largest 

 ants which I had an opportunity of seeing are for- 

 midable on account of^ their undermining build- 

 ings. They make burrows, with infinite labor, 

 under churches and houses, digging deep, sinuous 

 meanders in the earth, and exerting their utmost 

 strength to throw out the loosened sods. Having 

 got wings, theyffy off in all directions, on the ap- 

 proach of heavy showers, wiili the same ill for- 

 tune as Icarus, but with this dih^i^^rence, that he 

 perished in the sea, they on the ground, to whicfi 

 they fill when their wings are wetted by the rain. 

 Moreover those holes in the earth by which the 

 ants used first to pass admit the rain-water, which 

 inundates the raves of the ants, and underniines 

 the buildincr, causing the wooden beams that up- 

 hold the wall and roof, first to give way, and, unless 

 immediately supported, to liill along with the 

 house. This is a common spectacle in Paraguay. 

 The whole hill on which St. Joachim was built 

 was covered with ant-hills, and full of subterra- 

 nean cavities. Our house and the one adjoining 

 suffered much from these insects. The chief al- 

 tar was rendered useless for many days ; for, it 

 being rainy weather, the lurking ants flew in 

 swarms from their caves, and not being able to 

 support a long flight, fell upon the priest, the altar, 

 and sacred utensils, defiling every thing. Ten 

 outlets by which they broke :i'om their caves being- 

 closed up, next day they opened twenty more. 

 One evening there arose a violent storm, with 

 horrible thunder and lightning. A heavy show- 

 er seemed to have converted our court-yard into 

 a sloping lake, the wall itself withstanding the 

 course of the waters. My companion betook him- 

 self to my apartment. Meantime, an Indian, the 

 churchwarden, arrives announcing that the floor 

 of the church was beginning to gape, and the wall 

 to open and be inclined. I snatched up a lamp 

 and ran to the place, but had hardly quitted the 

 threshold of my door, when I perceived a gap in 

 the earth ; and before I was aware of any danger, 

 sunk up to the shoulders in a pit, in the very pFace 

 of the chief altar, but scrambled out of it, by the 

 help of a churchwarden, as quickly as I had got 

 in, for under that altar the ants seemed to have 

 made their metropolis : the cavern was many feet 

 long and wide, so that it had the appearance of a 

 wine-cellar. As often as earth was thrown in by 

 the Indians to fill it, so often was it dug out by the 

 ants. In this universal trepidation, all the Indians 

 were called to prop the gaping wall of the church 

 with rafters and planks. The greatness of the 

 danger rendered it impossible to remain quiet, 

 whatever arts were adopted. That same night I 

 removed from my apartment, which was joined to 

 the church with the same beams and rafters, in 

 such a manner, that if one fell, the other could not 

 avoid being involved in the ruin. I have read that 

 in Guiana, rocks and mountains have been under- 

 mined, walls thrown down, and people turned out 

 of their habitations by ants, which I can easily 

 believe having myself witnessed similar or even 

 more incredible events. 



"In Parau'uay I was made thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with the powers of ants. They are weak, 

 and compared with many other insects, diminu- 

 tive ; but numbers, labor, and unaumiity render 

 them formidable, and endow them with strength 

 superior to their size. In the plains, especially 

 those near the Paraguay, I have seen ant-hills, 



