TRAVELLING ANTS. 2 eg 



insect-life, but also enter houses. Their sudden arrival 

 is often announced by the scuttling across the floor of some 

 alarmed cockroach, pursued by one small ant, which does 

 not look like a formidable enemy. But the cockroach 

 knows better, for the one little ant is but the forerunner of 

 an enormous army, and very soon three or four others 

 appear and join in the pursuit, and the fate of the cockroach 

 is sealed. 



When a house is thus invaded, the rightful owners can 

 do nothing but give it up for a time to their uninvited 

 guests ; unwelcome we can hardly call them, because in hot 

 countries many creatures, which pay neither rent nor taxes, 

 are in the habit of establishing themselves in all parts of the 

 house, and now at the first notice of the approach of the 

 ants, away they all rush as fast as they can go. 



A lady who has lived for years in Trinidad, says that the 

 arrival of the ants is hailed with delight, for they investigate 

 every corner and crevice in the house, the walls, ceilings, 

 and floors being black with their countless legions ; but when 

 they have thoroughly explored the premises, which takes 

 but an hour or two, they leave them quite cleared of all 

 living things which have no business there. Rats, mice, 

 snakes, cockroaches, spiders, scorpions, and even the fleas, 

 have vanished for at least one or two months, and the 

 lawful owners can live in peace. 



The ants themselves decamp when their work is done, 

 or should they linger may be easily dismissed, it is said, by 

 a little cold water. The driver ants of Africa, which also 

 enter and clear houses, are reported to kill even the great 

 python ; and the ants of the American plains are employed, 



