December, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



387 



have no choice but to vacate the premises, else they would 

 be quickly killed and eaten. Cattle and horses are often 

 destroyed, and even elephants and the largest serpents are 

 assailed, their skeletons, picked perfectly clean, being left 

 behind to mark the route pursued by the ants. 



The driver ants are quite large — about an inch in length 

 and thick-set. They have very sharp, sickle-shaped jaws, 

 with which they literally bite out pieces of the flesh of a per- 

 son or animal attacked. At the same time they thrust into 

 the victim a poisonous sting which they carry at the extremity 

 of the abdomen, being "business" at both ends. It is not 

 surprising that, under such circumstances, assailed by hun- 

 dreds of these formidable insects simultaneously, a human 

 being, or the largest beast, should soon succumb. Indeed, 

 a man, however armed, is absolutely helpless against them. 

 The only good thing claimed in behalf of the drivers is that, 

 when they go through a house, they kill every rat and bug on 

 the premises. 



In tropical America there are certain "robber" ants which 

 are equally dangerous by reason of their ferocity, the severity 

 of their bite and the deadly character of the venom they 

 carry. They are vagabonds, occupying no permanent home, 

 but leading a wandering life. Sometimes they move in 

 phalanx formation, a marching army occupying a space of 

 five or six square yards, in which the insects are densely 

 massed. While the main body progresses in this compact 

 order, skirmishers are thrown out, and here and there a small 

 column leaves the phalanx to forage. Every living creature 

 that can get out of the way does so. If a man, on a journey 

 through the tropical forest, happens to encounter an army 

 of these ants, he is instantly attacked. They swarm up his 

 legs, drive their pincher-like jaws into his flesh, and sting 

 with their tails. No creatures more ferocious can be 

 imagined. 



In the forests of tropical South America are predatory 

 tribes of so-called "bad-smelling" ants, which are accustomed 

 to attack and devour small mammals and insects. They are 

 of exceptionally large size and glossy black; their sting is 

 severe and poisonous, and their bite most unpleasant, their 



severe. I hey live in colonics underground, and arc a good 

 deal of a nuisance destroying cultivated plants and espe- 

 cially fruit-tecs. The workers cut out pieces of leaves with 

 their jaws, carry them to their nests, and chew them up to 

 make mushroom-beds. When thus engaged, passing over the 

 ground in numbers, they look as if they carried little um- 



The Tarantula-killer. Life size 



jaws being big and sharp. In glands on the sides of the 

 thorax they secrete an oily fluid, which, emitted as a means 

 of defense when they are captured, diffuses a markedly dis- 

 agreeable odor. 



The famous leaf-cutting ants, which are widely distributed 

 in the tropics, are poisonous, their stings being decidedly 



A Nine-inch African Centipede 



brellas over their heads. The beds prepared in the manner 

 described produce a tiny species of mushroom, which, when 

 it has reached a certain stage of ripeness and succulence, is 

 fed to the young ants. This fungus, by the way, has been 

 cultivated artificially in the laboratory. 



In Australia the inhabitants are much afraid of the sting 

 of a certain species of ant, known as the bulldog, which is 

 said to be painful and even dangerous. It is a predaceous 

 insect, found nowhere except in the island-continent, and com- 

 monly preys on caterpillars and beetles of various kinds. 

 Its bite is quite severe, and with such determination does it 

 hold on that the jaws retain their grip even when the head 

 has been pulled from the body — whence the popular name 

 bestowed upon the creature. 



A venomous insect that causes not a little unhappiness to 

 human beings in the southwestern part of the United States 

 is popularly known as the "great, big bedbug." The term 

 is pretty accurately descriptive, inasmuch as it is to all intents 

 and purposes a bedbug of exaggerated size, nearly an inch 

 in length, with a flat body, a pointed head, a strong beak, 

 and a "buggy" odor even more offensive than that of the 

 familiar household insect. Worst of all it has wings, and 

 flies at night, being attracted to open windows by lights. 

 Coming originally from Mexico and Texas, it is making its 

 way steadily eastward and northward, and has already in- 

 vaded the Mississippi Valley. Apparently, it is merely a 

 question of time when it will invade the East. It passes the 

 winter under the bark of trees or beneath stones, and attacks 

 human beings only in the spring. 



Within the last few years there has been much to-do over 

 the "kissing-bug." It is not a definitely descriptive name, 

 being applied seemingly to a number of different species of 

 insects which inflict more or less venomous bites. The biggest 

 and worst of the kissing-bugs, however, is reasonably plen- 

 tiful in Texas and New Mexico. One of its pleasing habits is 

 to crawl beneath the blanket of a person camping out, or 

 otherwise sleeping in the open air, and to insert its beak into 

 his person, thereupon proceeding to suck until its abdomen 

 is distended to the size of a small hen's egg. This, however, 

 is not the worst of the injury, which is liable to produce a 

 bad sore, difficult to heal. 



One of the most remarkable of predaceous insects is the 

 familiar "electric-light bug," which eats young fishes. It is 

 a huge fly, and before the introduction of electric lights was 

 supposed even by entomologists to be decidedly rare. It is a 

 diver, and its habit is to plunge into a pond, seize a little fish, 

 and suck its blood. The tarantula-killer carries at the end of 

 its tail a sting, which is connected with a poison-gland. It 

 pounces upon the spider, paralyzes it with a blow of its 

 weapon, and then drags it to its burrow, where it serves as 

 food for the young of the captor. 



