JfO The J^atiiralists’ Compcmion. 
A Battle of the Liliputians. 
BY VV. W. WESTGATE, HOUSTON, TEXAS. 
I saw an article in the Companion 
a short time ago in relation to ants, 
that reminded me of something that 
occiired recently under my own obser¬ 
vation. 
While sitting at my desk one after¬ 
noon, I happened to turn my head and 
saw a long line of ants coming and go¬ 
ing on the lower ledge of an open book 
case behind me. My naturalistic in¬ 
stincts were at once aroused and eveiy 
thing dropped to watch the ants. I 
soon perceived that they were entirely 
different from any species that I was 
familiar with. They were black, about 
an eighth of an inch in length, had 
very long” legs, and their antennae were 
slenderand long, terminating in a large 
knob. They would not bite; I caught 
several and held them in my hand, 
squeezed, pinched, and by eveiy 
means in my power tried to induce 
them to bite, but all efibrts were in 
vain. They seemed crazy, and ran 
all over m3" hand, waving their anten¬ 
nae wildty in the air. Ail that passed 
in one direction went empt}" handed, 
but those returning the other way 
were loaded with dead ants. In one 
place an ant would go lugging along 
a dead one; in another place there 
would be three or four all tugging and 
burdened with another. Tracing them 
up, I found that they came from a 
large newspaper spread out on the 
bottom of the book case, and seemed 
to be engaged in fighting one of the 
battles of the age, and one of the se¬ 
verest insect lights, too, that I have 
ever witnessed. The newspaper Avas 
covered with dead, dicing and strug¬ 
gling ants, all in a mass together. 
One ant would run up to another and 
the}^ would regard each other for an 
instant, tapping their antennas togeth¬ 
er, then rush at each other in a perfect 
fuiy; the fight thus commenced would 
last until one or the other was killed, 
and carried off in triumph by the vic¬ 
tor. I could almost fanc}^ that I 
heard their jaws snapping, and terri¬ 
ble imprecations belching forth. 
Again, in another place, one ant 
grabbed another by the leg and at¬ 
tempted to cany him off, Avhether he 
would or no; while a third would seize 
the first, and a fourth w'ould tag on to 
the third, and so, whirling and rolling 
abput, the}^ had a “meny go around” 
of their OAvn. Ma" observations were 
suddenh" brought to a close b}" a hand 
unexpectedh" slapped down among 
them, stopping their light and dispers¬ 
ing the combatants; the noise so start¬ 
ling them that they forgot their pug¬ 
nacious intentions in their efforts to 
escape. So far as T could perceive, 
there was no difference betAveen them; 
they seemed to be all of one kind. I 
subjected them to the microscope, but 
could not perceive the slightest varia¬ 
tion, Will some brother naturalist 
name them from this jneager descrip¬ 
tion ? 
A few more contributions from our 
readers would be very acceptable. 
Come, friends, you can certainly find 
some interesting subject which to write 
upon; some of 3 " 0 ur experience in the 
field, or observations on some species 
neAv to you, Avouid, imdoubiedly, be 
very interesting- Write only on one 
side of the paper. By all contributing 
a fcAv short articles now and then, it 
will make the paper more interesting. 
