A Stream Of Them
Is Seen To Rush Out Of A Hole, And, After Flying One Or Two Hundred Yards,
They descend; and if they light upon a piece of soil proper for
the commencement of a new colony, they
Bend up their tails,
unhook their wings, and, leaving them on the surface,
quickly begin their mining operations. If an attempt is made
to separate the wings from the body by drawing them away backward, they seem
as if hooked into the body, and tear away large portions of the insect;
but if turned forward, as the ant itself does, they snap off
with the greatest ease. Indeed, they seem formed only to serve the insect
in its short flight to a new habitation, and then to be thrown aside.
Nothing can exceed the eagerness with which, at the proper time,
they rush out from their birth-place. Occasionally this occurs in a house,
and then, in order to prevent every corner from being filled with them,
I have seen a fire placed over the orifice; but they hesitate not even
to pass through the fire. While swarming they appear like snow-flakes
floating about in the air, and dogs, cats, hawks, and almost every bird,
may be seen busily devouring them. The natives, too, profit by the occasion,
and actively collect them for food, they being about half an inch long,
as thick as a crow-quill, and very fat. When roasted they are said
to be good, and somewhat resemble grains of boiled rice.
An idea may be formed of this dish by what once occurred
on the banks of the Zouga.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 692 of 1070
Words from 198214 to 198487
of 306638
