GREEN-ANT CORDIAL
White ants, black ants, red ants, brown ants, grey ants, green ants;
ants large, ants small; ants slothful, ants brisk; meat-eating ants,
grain-eating ants, fruit-eating ants, nectar-imbibing ants; ants that
fight, ants that run away; ants that live under coldest stone, ants that
dwell among the treetops; silent ants, ants that literally "kick up"
a row; good ants, bad ants, ants that are merely so so--we have them
all and would not part with any--not even the stinging green ants, which
are among the most singular of the tribe, nor even the "white ant"
(which is not an ant), that would literally eat us out of house and home
if not rigorously excluded and warred against with poison, for they are
the great scavengers of woodeny debris.
Green ants do disfigure orange and mango trees with their "nests," and
they have the temper of furies; but they wage war on many of the insects
which bother plants, and clear away insect carrion, and carrion, in
fact, of all sorts. This ant, to which has been given the official title
of "emerald-coloured leaf dweller," constructs a pocket with leaves of
living trees (and, very rarely, of the blades of living grass), and
dwelling therein establishes populous colonies.
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