GREEN-ANT CORDIAL 227 



extended anterior legs, hooked on to a twig, pull the body 

 forward with a gliding, almost imperceptible motion as the 

 leaf is gradually consumed. Between meals, the palpi are 

 folded flat close to the mouth, like the blades of a pocket-knife. 

 Blacks classify most of the works of Nature under two 

 headings — " Good to eat," " Not good to eat," and nearly 

 everything is included under the former. The " Taloo " or 

 "Yam-boo" is included in the larger class. Ruthlessly 

 deprived of its limbs, the insect is placed squirming on hot 

 embers until it becomes crisp, when it is eaten with great 

 relish. 



Green-Ant Cordial 



White ants, black ants, red ants, brown ants, grey ants, 

 green ants ; ants large, ants small ; ants slothful, ants brisk ; 

 meat-eating ants, grain-eating ants, fruit-eating ants, nectar- 

 imbibing ants ; ants that fight, ants that run away ; ants 

 that live under coldest stone, ants that dwell among the 

 tree-tops ; silent ants, ants that literally " kick up " a row ; 

 good ants, bad ants, ants that are merely so so — we have 

 them all and would not part with a.ny — not even the sting- 

 ing green ants, which are among the most singular of the 

 tribe, nor even the " white ant " (which is not an ant), that 

 would literally eat us out of house and home if not 

 rigorously excluded and warred against with poison, for 

 they are the great scavengers of woodeny debris. 



Green ants do disfigure orange and mango trees with 

 their " nests," and they have the temper of furies ; but they 

 wage war on many of the insects which bother plants, and 

 clear away insect carrion, and carrion, in fact, of all sorts. 

 This ant, to which has been given the official title of 

 "emerald-coloured leaf dweller," constructs a pocket with 

 leaves of living trees (and, very rarely, of the blades of 

 living grass), and dwelling therein establishes populous 

 colonies. The queen or mother ant sets up her separate 

 establishment by curling a small leaf or the corner of a 

 large one, joining the edges with a white cottony fabric, 

 and forthwith begins to raise a family. She is a portly 



