"ANT-CATTLE."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 260, 2 November 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

"ANT-CATTLE."

Those funny little green flies that one so often finds on rose bushes or chrysanthemum shrubs may be very annoying to the gardener, but to the ant they are precious, and serve quite a useful purpose. It is to her advantage to keep them alive and to defend them from possible enemies, for they are her "cows," and she the "dairymaid" who milks them. The "cow's" horns are the two antennae which curve back over her hody. The mout*. consists of a hollow tube, which the "cow" pushes into leaf or stem and uses as a pump to' draw up sap. In the stomach the sap is changed into sweet liquid, or honeymilk, such as ants love to drink.

Some ants become owners of herds by chance, but whenever they have taken possession Of a herd no intruders are allowed to milk their "cattle." Others build underground tunnels into country where they know there are happy pasture-lands filled with precious "milch cows." 7 A valuable "cow" ban special attention given to it, the ant building a "shed" for its own use. This consists of chewed-up wood fibre or soft earth softened well with saliva. In the centre of this "shed" the ant places the "cow," knowing tiat it can feed plentifully, is safe from pandering poachers, and cannot stray away into other pastures. When rainy weather comes the "cows" are taken care of and carried in the ant's mouth to her underground "cow sheds," but when fine they are brought back again to their native air on rose bush or shrub.

At milking time, which comes round -whenever an ant is thirsty, she visits one of the "cows," puts it into a happy mood by stroking its "horns" and, laps up a fragrant drop ol honey-milk. Should the- first "cow" be dry she shows her consideration for it by placing it in more favourable pasturage before going on to the next milk-yielder. When the first cold winds of autumn blow, the ants make sure of their future milk supply by taking the unhatched e ™ s of the aphides.or green fly into their underground "cow-houses" and tending them all through the long winter.

Hatching takes place in March, and the young "cattle" are put out. to graze in their native surroundings, repaying their ant-Owners by giving them a plentiful supply of honey-milk and providing them with eggs for the following year's hatching.