Consequently the green tree-ant is not as a
rule regarded with any tenderness or consideration, and there never
existed a green ant which hesitated to attack the greatest man. He is
quite as heroic as a bee--though armed much less efficiently--and far more
resentful.
A brilliant black ant imitates its green cousin in the construction of a
leafy dwelling somewhat similar in design but on a smaller scale, and
having no apparent weapon of defence, save odour--and not very much of
that--adopts a novel plan of protecting its refuge against assaults.
However gently the leafy house is touched the denizens set up a violent
agitation, the simultaneous efforts of hundreds making a sound quite
loud enough to scare away intruders whose senses are attuned to the
silence and rustlings of the jungle. The noise, which resembles that
which results from the easy agitation of coarse sand in a crisp paper
envelope, seems to be caused by the ants kicking or drumming on the
sides and partitions of the house, the partitions being composed of a
light brown fabric, tense, tough and resonant.
WOOING WITH WINGS
Among the many engaging scenes and frolics that are ever taking place
along the flounces of the jungle, where the serrated leaves of the fern
of God make living lacework up and among the tangle of foliage, none is
prettier than the love flight of the green and gold butterfly
(ORNITHOPTERA CASSANDRA).
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