Another visit to the anthill.—Honey-dew.—The different kinds of ants, and other things.
As soon as breakfast was over, the next day, Jack and his aunt set out to visit the ants in the garden. Jack soon pointed out a hill, which he had observed before, and they both sat down to watch the little creatures at their work.
As usual, all seemed to be busy. Some appeared to be occupied in bringing out the eggs, which they laid in the sun, so that they might hatch the sooner. Some were engaged in cleaning out the house, for they were seen to bring out small pieces of sand, which they carried to a little distance, and threw them away. One was seen to come up with a pretty large piece of earth, which he rolled along with much difficulty.
While a part of the little people were thus engaged in housewifery, others appeared to be bringing them food. Sometimes these brought flies and pieces of insects; sometimes they appeared to have filled their stomachs, and when they met their friends who staid at home, they would put a part of their food into their mouths, and feed them, as a mother does a child.
As I have said, Aunt Piper had a good deal of knowledge, and she had heard that ants sometimes get a kind of honey from other insects. She was very curious to see this herself. So she watched some of the little creatures, and observed that they went to the dandelions that were growing near by. They ascended the stalks, some of which were covered with what is called honey-dew, a substance deposited by lice, which live in great numbers upon vegetables.
Many of the ants stopped to eat this honey-dew, which they seemed to be very fond of; but others, not finding any of this on the stalks, mounted to the full-blown dandelions, where they found numbers of these little insects imbedded in the yellow down. The ants immediately began to suck the honey-dew from them, and what was wonderful, these creatures kept quite still, and seemed pleased to have the ants lick the honey off from them!
This sight gratified Jack and his aunt very much, and they spent a long time in watching the operations of these curious creatures. After spending two or three hours very pleasantly, they went to the house. Aunt Piper then got a little book and read all about ants to Jack. I will tell you a few wonderful things she read to him.
There are a great many kinds of ants; some are almost an inch long, and others are not bigger than a grain of sand. In some countries the ants build hills twice as high as a man’s head. In Africa there are white ants, that devour trees, and they are so numerous that it is dangerous for men to go among them, unless several can go together and destroy them at once.
The little garden ants are very harmless; they not only eat up a great deal of the honey-dew deposited by lice upon plants, and which would otherwise injure them, but they also devour a vast deal of matter that would putrefy and make the air unwholesome.
[In our next number] we shall tell some curious adventures between Jack and the beetles.