Homes Without Hands: Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, Classed According to Their Principle of Construction

When Colonel Sykes brought home the first nest he discovered, he hung it to the tent-pole, preparatory to examining it in the morning. “In the night the men were awakened by repeated punctures and general irritation of the skin, but the darkness prevented them from discovering their tormentors, and they continued to toss and tumble in their beds for some hours in no very complacent state of mind. At last they got up, dressed themselves, and abandoned the tent; but the evil was rather aggravated than abated, as parts of their persons which had previously escaped had now their share of suffering. At daylight they discovered to their consternation that they were covered with minute ants, which had filled their pantaloons, penetrated the sleeves of their coats and every other part of their habiliments. On inspecting the tent, they found the interior teeming with multitudes of little angry beings, in busy progress, seeking to resent the outrage which had been committed on the community by the removal of their abode.”

The insects are extremely small, barely one fifth of an inch in length, and are reddish in color.

PERHAPS one of the most terrible of insects is that which is appropriately called the Driver Ant of Western Africa (Anomma arcens).

This insect is a truly remarkable creature. Although it is to be found in vast numbers, it has never been found in the winged condition, and neither the male nor the female have as yet been discovered. The workers are uniform in color, but exceedingly variable in size. Their hue is deep brownish-black, and their length varies from half an inch to one line, so that the largest workers nearly equal the common earwig, while the smallest are no larger than the common red ant of our gardens. In the British Museum are specimens of the workers, which form a regular gradation of size from the largest to the smallest.

They are called Driver Ants because they drive before them every living creature. There is not an animal that can withstand the Driver Ants. In their march they carry destruction before them, and every beast knows instinctively that it must not cross their track. They have been known to destroy even the agile monkey, when their swarming host had once made a lodgment on its body; and when they enter a pig-stye, they soon kill the imprisoned inhabitants, whose tough hides can not protect them from the teeth of the Driver Ants. Fowls they destroy in numbers, killing in a single night all the inhabitants of the hen-roost, and, having destroyed them, have a curious method of devouring them.

Driver Ants.

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The Rev. Dr. Savage, who has experimented upon these formidable insects, killed a fowl and gave it to the Ants. At first they did not seem to pay much attention to it, but he soon found that they were in reality making their preparations. Large parties of the insects were detached for the purpose of preparing a road, and worked with the assiduity which seems to be a characteristic of these energetic insects. Numbers of them were employed in smoothing the road to the nest by removing every obstacle out of the way, until, by degrees, a tolerably level road was obtained. The Ants are possessed of strength which seems gigantic when compared with their size, carrying away sticks four or five times as large as themselves, and never failing to pounce upon any grub or insect that might happen to be lurking beneath their shelter. They always carried such burdens longitudinally, grasping them with their jaws and legs, and passing the load under the body. Some of these roads are more than two hundred yards in length.

Meanwhile the other Ants were busy with the fowl. Beginning at the base of the beak, they contrived to pull out the feathers one by one, until they stripped it regularly backward, working over the head, along the neck, and so on to the body. This was evidently a very hard task, as the insects did not possess sufficient strength to pull out the feathers by main force, and were consequently obliged to grub them up laboriously by the roots. The next business was to pull the bird to pieces, and at this work they were left. Unfortunately the experiment was spoiled by the natives, who stole the fowl, thinking that the Ants had eaten so many of their poultry that they were justified in retaliation. Others chose to excuse themselves by saying that they thought the fowl to be a fetish offering to the Ants, and accordingly took it away from them.

The large iguana lizards fall victims to the Driver Ants, and so do all reptiles, not excluding snakes. It seems, from the personal observations of Dr. Savage, that the Ants commence their attack on the snake by biting its eyes, and so blinding the poor reptile, which only flounders and writhes helplessly on one spot, instead of gliding away to a distance.

It is said by the natives that when the great python has crushed its prey in its terrible folds, it does not devour it at once, but makes a large circuit, at least a mile in diameter, in order to see whether an army of Driver Ants is on the march. If so, it glides off and abandons its prey, which will soon be devoured by the Ants; but if the ground is clear, it returns to the crushed animal, swallows it, and gives itself to repose until the process of digestion be completed. Whether this assertion be true or not, Dr. Savage can not say; but it is here given in order to show the extreme awe in which the natives hold the Driver Ants.

So completely is the dread of them on every living creature, that on their approach whole villages are deserted, and in extreme cases the entire population is forced to take to the rivers, knowing that the insects will not enter water unless obliged to do so, although, on occasions, they do not hesitate to commit themselves to the waves, as will presently be seen.

The order of their marching is very curious, and is well described by Dr. Savage:

“Their sallies are made in cloudy days, and in the night, chiefly in the latter. This is owing to the uncongenial influence of the sun, an exposure to the direct rays of which, especially when the power is increased by reflection, is almost instantaneously fatal. If they should be detained abroad till late in the morning of a sunny day by the quantity of their prey, they will construct arches over their path of dirt agglutinated by a fluid excreted from their mouth. If their way should run under thick grass, sticks, etc., affording sufficient shelter, the arch is dispensed with; if not, so much dirt is added as is necessary to eke out the arch in connection with them. In the rainy season, or in a succession of cloudy days, the arch is seldom visible; their path, however, is very distinct, presenting a beaten appearance, and freedom from every thing movable.

“They are evidently economists in time and labor; for if a crevice, fissure in the ground, passage under stones, etc., come in their way, they will adopt them as a substitute for the arch.

“In cloudy days, when on their predatory excursions, or migrating, an arch for the protection of the workers is constructed of the bodies of their largest class. Their widely-extended jaws, long slender limbs, and projecting antennæ, intertwining, form a sort of network, that seems to answer well their object. Whenever an alarm is given, the arch is instantly broken, and the ants, joining others of the same class on the outside of the line, who seem to be acting as commanders, guides, and scouts, run about in a furious manner in pursuit of the enemy. If the alarm should prove to be without foundation, the victory won, or danger passed, the arch is quickly renewed, and the main column marches forward as before, in all the order of an intellectual military discipline.”

Sometimes, as is usual in tropical countries, the rain descends like a flood, converting in a few minutes whole tracts of country into a temporary lake. The dwellings of the Driver Ant are immediately deluged, and, but for a remarkable instinct which is implanted in the insects, most of the Ants, and all the future brood, would perish. As soon as the water encroaches upon their premises, they run together and agglomerate themselves into balls, the weakest (or the “women and children,” as the natives call them) being in the middle, and the large and powerful insects on the outside. These balls are much lighter than water, and consequently float on the surface until the floods retire, and the insects can resume their place on dry land.

The size of the ant-balls is various; but they are, on an average, as large as a full-sized cricket-ball. One of these curious balls was cleverly caught in a handkerchief, put in a vessel, and sent to Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, who has kindly presented me with several specimens of the insect.

When a colony of these insects has been established near a house, the inhabitants naturally endeavor to destroy it. The habitation is very simple and artless, and generally consists of a mere hole in a rock or bank, in which the creatures assemble. They are very fond of usurping the sepulchres of the dead, which are usually excavated in the sides of hills, and are about eighteen inches in depth.

The natives generally try to destroy the colony by heaping dry leaves of the palm upon the dwelling, and setting fire to the heap. When this plan was tried, it was found to be very unsatisfactory; for the greater mass of the insects contrived to make their escape, and were found upon the neighboring trees, clinging in heavy bunches and long festoons, which connected one branch with another, and formed ladders over which the insects could pass. These festoons were made in a very curious manner.

First, a single Ant clung tightly to a branch, and then a second insect crawled cautiously down its suspended body, and hung to its long, outstretched limbs. Others followed in rapid succession, until they had formed a complete chain of Ants, which swung about in the wind. One of the largest workers then took its stand immediately below the chain, held firmly to the branch with its hind limbs, and dexterously caught with its fore legs the end of the living chain as it swung past. The ladder was thus completed, and fixed ready for the transit of insects; and, in a similar way, the whole tree was covered with festoons of Ants, until it was blackened with their sable bodies.

They can even cross streams by means of these ladders. Crawling to the end of a bough which overhangs the water, they form themselves into a living chain, and add to its length until the lowermost reaches the water. The long, wide-spread limbs of the insect can sustain it upon the water, especially when aided by its hold on the suspended comrade above.

Ant after Ant pushes forward, and the floating portion of the chain is thus lengthened, until the free end is swept by the stream against the opposite bank. The Ant which forms the extremity of the chain then clings to a stick, stone, or root, and grasps it so firmly that the chain is held tightly, and the Ants can pass over their companions as over a suspension bridge. In the illustration a column of Driver Ants is shown on the march. The vanguard of the column has crossed the stream by means of the living ladder, which is seen suspended from a branch, and extended across the water. The fragile tube which they build is also shown, and a few of the larger architects are drawn of the natural size. The smaller specimens will not emerge from the tunnel.