IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 
191 
Other Ants have in charge decaying vegetable matter, and 
that is no light task in that country, where huge trees die and fall 
The land would be covered with ruin, instead of 
on 
the ground. 
the luxuriant flowers and foliage everywhere to be seen. When a 
tree falls, one kind of insect attacks the bark, and others bore 
millions of holes in the wood. Then when the rain and sun begin 
to make it decay, others come and feed on it, and in a few months 
the enormous tree is all gone, and young trees and plants come up 
in its place. 
Mosquitoes — tormenting little fellows as they are — belong to 
this army of servants. Their little ones help to keep stagnant 
water pure, and undoubtedly prevent a good deal of sickness. So 
the next time one comes singing about you, you must reflect that 
it is better to endure a bite or two, than to have the whole family 
sick with fever. 
