Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/909

Rh "They can not possibly walk over it," this sapient scientist declared. I spread it in liberal measure around the barrel, but, alas! for newspaper science; it is a positive fact that before I had finished my circling wall of Cayenne pepper these little black imps were racing over it by hundreds. I gave it up. There was nothing to do but to build a low table, put the legs in cans of kerosene oil, and keep on it the barrel of sugar and all other provisions that I wished to protect against these cunning little marauders. Since then I have had no further trouble with them, save in one or two instances where the kerosene was allowed to evaporate. So far as I know, this particular species of ant is rarely found—at least, gives no trouble—here in the country. It seems to be especially partial to "city life."

But to return to the ant conference over the dead body of the anolis. When I first saw them, a hundred or so of these little "racehorse" ants were scampering about in the most fussy and excited way. Two little fellows would meet, cross antennae, and start otf at a lightning pace, to repeat the performance with the next one they met. No doubt they had some plan and were really talking over the matter; but apparently it was just an indistinguishable jumble of black imps racing up and down without rhyme or reason. After watching for a moment this curiously involved but seemingly aimless dance, I left to attend to other matters. Returning in the course of half an hour, I saw to my surprise that the dead chameleon had apparently come to life, and was crawling over the edge of th.e chair seat. A little closer inspection, however, showed that the revival was only apparent, and that these little Sandows were actually dragging off the dead body of the anolis. This was so astonishing that I naturally gave the matter a little closer attention. It was very much as though a score of men should be caught picking up a big church and walking off with it, or half a dozen fishermen should shoulder a whale and carry it to market!

In order to estimate as nearly as possible what these ants were really doing, I placed the body of the dead lizard on the scale pan of a Becker analytical balance, and found that it weighed eight hundred and ninety-six milligrammes. Ten of the ants weighed exactly four milligrammes and a half. This, of course, gave a weight of nine twentieths of a milligramme for each ant. Thus it will be seen that these little insect Samsons were actually draging off an animal almost two thousand times as large as themselves (exactly nineteen hundred and ninety-one times)!

How did they do it? To test the matter, I placed the dead anolis back in the wooden chair seat where I first found him. Watch in hand, I awaited events. Not an ant was in sight. One minute passed, nearly two, when a solitary scout made his