Capt. Stedman relates that the Fire-ants of Surinam caused a whole company of soldiers to start and jump about as if scalded with boiling water; and its nests were so numerous that it was not easy to avoid them.[534] And Knox, in his account of Ceylon, mentions a black Ant, called by the natives Coddia or Kaddiya,[535] which, he says, “bites desperately, as bad as if a man were burnt by a coal of fire; but they are of a noble nature, and will not begin unless you disturb them.” The reason the Singhalese assign for the horrible pain occasioned by their bite is curious, and is thus related by Knox: “Formerly these Ants went to ask a wife of the Noya, a venomous and noble kind of snake;[536] and because
they had such a high spirit to dare to offer to be related to such a generous creature, they had this virtue bestowed upon them, that they should sting after this manner. And if they had obtained a wife of the Noya, they should have had the privilege to sting full as bad as he.”[537] Capt. Stedman has a story of a large Ant that stripped the trees of their leaves, to feed, as was supposed by the natives of Surinam, a blind serpent under ground,[538] which is somewhat akin to this: as is also another, related to Kirby and Spence by a friend, of a species of Mantis, taken in one of the Indian islands, which, according to the received opinion among the natives, was the parent of all their serpents.[539] But, the reverse: Among the harmless snakes of Mexico is a beautiful one about a foot in length, and of the thickness of the little finger, which appears to take pleasure in the society of Ants, insomuch that it will accompany these insects upon their expeditions, and return with them to their usual nest. From this peculiarity it is called by the Spaniards and Mexicans the “Mother of the Ants.”[540]
When in Africa, Du Chaillu was told by the natives that criminals in former times were exposed to the path of the Bashikouay-ants, as the most cruel way of putting them to death.[541] This dreadful manner of torturing was at one time also practiced by the Singhalese, and I have heard that several British soldiers have thus met their fate. The Termites have been referred to before as having been employed for a similar purpose.
To check the ravages of the Coffee-bug, Lecanium coffea, Walker, which for several years was devastating some of the plantations of Ceylon, the experiment was made of introducing the Red-ants, Formica smaragdina, Fab., which feed greedily on the Coccus.[542] But the remedy threatened
to be attended with some inconvenience, for, says Tennent, the Malabar coolies, with bare and oiled skins, were so frequently and fiercely assaulted by the Ants as to endanger their stay on the estates.
The pupæ or cocoons of the Ants, during the day, are placed near the surface of the Ant-hills to obtain heat, which is indispensable to the growth of the inclosed insects. This is taken advantage of in Europe to collect the cocoons in large quantities as food for nightingales and larks. The cocoons of a species of Wood-ant, Formica rufa, are the only kind chosen. In most of the towns of Germany, one or more individuals make a living during summer by this business alone. “In 1832,” says a contributor to the Penny Encyclopedia, “we visited an old woman at Dottendorf, near Bern, who had collected for fourteen years. She went to the woods in the morning, and collected in a bag the surfaces of a number of Ant-hills where the cocoons were deposited, taking Ants and all home to her cottage, near which she had a small tiled shed covering a circular area, hollowed out in the center, with a trench full of water around it. After covering the hollow in the center with leafy boughs of walnut or hazel, she strewed the contents of her bag on the level part of the area within the trench, when the Nurse-ants immediately seized the cocoons, and carried them into a hollow under the boughs. The cocoons were thus brought into one place, and after being from time to time removed, and black ones separated by a boy who spread them out on a table, and swept off what were bad with a strong feather, they were ready for market, being sold for about 4d. or 6d. a quart. Considerable quantities of these cocoons are dried for winter food of birds, and are sold in the shops.”[543]
Ants not only furnish food to man for his birds, but also food for himself, in both the pupa and imago states. Nicoli Conti, who traveled in India in the early part of the fifteenth century, says the Siamese eat a species of Red-ant, of the size of a small crab, which they consider a great delicacy seasoned with pepper.[544] At the present day, the pupæ of a species of Ants are a costly luxury with these people. They are not much larger than grains of sand, and are sent to table curried, or rolled in green leaves, mingled with shreds
or very fine slices of fat pork.[545] And in the province of Michuacan, Mexico, is a singular species of Ant, which carries on its abdomen “a little bagful of a sweet substance, of which the children are very fond: the Mexicans suppose this to be a kind of honey collected by the insect; but Clavigero thinks it rather its eggs.”[546]
Piso, De Laet, Marcgrave, and other writers mention their being an article of food in different parts of South America. Piso speaks of yellow Ants called Cupia inhabiting Brazil, the abdomen of which many used for food, as well as a large species under the name of Tama-joura: “Alia præterea datur grandis species Tama-ioura dicta digiti articulum adæquans. Quarum etiam clunes dessicantur et friguntur pro bono alimento.”[547] Says De Laet: “Denique formicæ hic visuntur grandissimæ, quas indigenæ vulgo comedunt; et in foris venales habent.”[548] And again: “Formicis vescebantur, easquæ studiose ad victum educabant.”[549] Lucas Fernandes Piedrahita, in his Historia General de las Conquistas del Nuevo Regno de Granada, states that cakes of Cazave and Ants were eaten in that country: “Al tiempo de tostarlas para este efecto, dan el mismo olor que los quesillos, que se labran para comer asados.”[550] Herrera says, the natives of New Granada made their main food of Ants, which they kept and reared in their yards.[551] Sloane confirms this, and says they are publicly sold in the markets.[552] Abbeville de Noromba tells us these great Ants are fricasseed.[553] Schomburgk, in his journey to the sources of the Essequibo, one evening saw all the boys of a village out shouting and chasing with sticks and palm leaves a large species of winged Ant, which they collected in great numbers in their calabashes for food. When roasted or boiled, he says, the natives considered these insects a great delicacy.[554] Humboldt informs us that Ants are eaten by the Marivatanos and Margueritares, mixed with resin for sauce.[555]
Mr. Consett, in his Travels in Sweden, makes mention of a young Swede who ate live Ants with the greatest relish imaginable.[556] This author states also, that in some parts of Sweden Ants are distilled along with rye, to give a flavor to the inferior kinds of brandy.[557]