85 
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH WINGED ANTS 
They are then cooked in salted wlater like any other vegetable and be¬ 
come a very palatable food when served with codfish or even rice. We 
soon learned to like its strange taste and now relish it as well as the 
native Jamaicans do. —Nellie Olson. 
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH WINGED ANTS 
/~\NE sunshiny afternoon in autumn, as a friend and I were returning 
from a short trip up one of the slopes of the Alleghany Mountains 
we observed something that caused us much wonderment. As we looked 
down into the vale ahead of us, we saw, darting hither and thither, vast 
numbers of bright wings—almost sparkling, so bright was the sunlight 
reflected from them. At first we thought they must be gnats, for we 
had often noticed swarms of gnats in the air; but we soon saw that they 
were numerous everywhere, and were not in swarms here and there, as 
gnats usually are. 
As we walked on„ still wondering what the insects were and where 
such a, mighty host could have come from, we noticed, near the edge of 
the road, a clay bank which was cracked open on account of the dry 
weather and hot sunshine. As we glanced in that direction our atten¬ 
tion was arrested by a swarm of insects darting back and forth over the 
ground, then into the crevice 1 and out again. So numerous were they, 
and so rapidly were they moving, that the eye seemed almost bewildered. 
On closer examination we found this restless throng of insects to 
be a colony of ants. Some were large, others were small; some had 
wings, while others did not. As some of the winged ants rose and flew 
high into the air, the question in our minds was settled. We knew then 
that the host of insects in the air were ants—ants on the wing. 
As this was a new experience, we proceeded homeward with the 
decision that we would make research concerning the habits of ants to 
find out What this all meant. But no sooner had we reached home than 
something else happened that made us wonder. Being rather tired from 
our walk, We sat down on the steps to rest. Presently a winged ant 
lighted on one of the steps and came running toward us. My friend 
brushed it back, and in so doing seemed to injure one of its wings. Then, 
to our surprize, the ant tore off the bruised wing and ran on for a: dis¬ 
tance of several feet, where, stopping suddenly, it tore off the other 
wing and resumed its journey. 
