PLAGUE OF FLYING-ANTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 57, 19 February 1935, Page 6

PLAGUE OF FLYING-ANTS

Men Driven from Their Work NEW PLYMOUTH EXPERIENCE Following their appearance in several suburbs recently, swarms of flying ants attacked and severely stung four relief workers at the New Plymouth airport. The insects were in such numbers that the remainder of the men were driven from their tasks and work was abandoned for over three hours. At the harbour and on Ngamotu Beach the ants were also a pest in a lesser degree. The ants first made their appearance at the airport about the middle of tho morning. After midday they had taken charge of everything, and clouds of them drove the men from their work, Four men were made unconscious for a time by the vicious and painful stinging of the insects and the rest had to seek shelter in the shade of the sheds. The plight of the men was made worse by the fact that every piece of work they did appeared to increase the swarms. As seals were turned hundreds of the insects were loosed into the air. The only relict came when gusts of wind blew the swarms away. “When the swarms were at their worst it was impossible to see even a lew yards ahead,” said one workman. “The air was literally black with ants. They rose from the ground in swarms as we turned over the sods and were soon clinging to everything. We were covered 1 rom head to foot. The ants crept, under our clothing and stung our bodies. Many of us tore off our shirts as we ran for shelter. They crept into our ears, noses and mouths. • The only thing that could have dealt with them was fire, tine man collapsed as lie ran for shelter and others had to fight their way through the blinding swarms to bring him in. A eloud of ants hung over the whole field. At one time motorists on the main road nearby had to pull up, because of the dense clouds of ants blocking their vision.” Men workin-' the ships at the New P'vmouth harbour were bothered by ants all day. The} were not present in such large num sas they were at the airport, but were sufficient to make conditions very unpleasant. On Ngamotu Beach, too, swarms of ants spoiled the afternoon for hundreds of picnickers. The recent rain, followed by the warm conditions, has apparently been to their lilting, for observers do not recall any occasion on which they were so numerous as at the airport. The ants were identified by Mr. W. W. Smith, a well-known naturalist, as of a species of ponera castenea. They are one of the two stinging species of ants among the large number of native species. A vicious sting is their most noticeable feature. It is painful, but not serious