Nuhou, Volume II, Number 8, 8 August 1873 — Insects. PLAYING ONE OFF AGAINST ANOTHER. [ARTICLE]

Insects.

PLAYING ONE OFF AGAINST ANOTHER.

Sowethißg like the following exj>erjment woula ■ make the fortune of the diseoverer if it could he' applieu to househo!d pests. A \vriter in thc- New! Oileane Picuyum saye i j Duting a long residence m Oentral Amcrica 1 | havc noticed the habits of i\ vsvy diuiimUive unt | cālled the terrier ant, No inBect will approach its habitation. it is perfectlj harmless to vege-| ; tation;, and will not permit anj insect or even an-! I imal to enei'oaeh upōn their premises under penaltj' of death. Theydo notbuildnests 5 likeother ants } ! but live anywhere where there is not a dense' tropidal Bhade. The writer is perfectly convineed ' that if they ean be imported into the eotton re-! gions!of the United StateSj and will stand theeli-] mate, the cotton and even the boll worm will be-' eome' a. thißg of the past. From many esperi-| menW in the destruction of insect life 3 the writer! forms his opinion, wliieh ean be corrobrated byi friends in Central Americarshould any one inter-| : ested in the cottori pfent chose to write. The first 1 ! occasion that the writer had to test the destructive attaeks oP the temer ant on insecfc life was] ! when stung by a stinging scorpion contained in ! the slieeve of his coat—an insect very tenaciousof life, yet in less than three minutes after it was ! given to the ants it was dead. A centipede 3 <sov-! ered with a hard armor, suffered the same fate in! four miiiutes and a few seconds. A tarantula' died in less than two minutes. A snake nine feet 1 long in fifteen minutds. There are numerous other experimehts rnade by the writer whieh he could give ? but deems unnecessary. The natives in Central America transport the ants from plaee to plaee by putting a little sugar in a bottle or calbore (gourd). and when full transport them safely. : [This terrier ant woule! be a Himoua fellow fbr Our grubs. Our Agricultural, or lmmigration Society, should endeavor to e*tahlish in our islands a eolony of these iiisectivorous inseet? t ATould not our p!anters*and tosee the army the borer, and all sorts of and caterpillaYS wiggling in the elntehes of Hn.se voracious little terricrs? But there is no tellin<r . O what these ants niight eat } perhaps our ehk-ken? and babies ;,btit. we won'i ' r?>tficJpate.—Ep. NuHOl'.] * Water-melons and cocoanuts aie 1 very high ! now; but a Mneh of awa yn n enai/ with the nut, and that;accoimts fbr themilk in it. 3F A telegmiß has been received 5 tUmg that a Sydriey steam line -will be put on the route fbr San Franeiseo and to toueh here, Our govern> ment haa heen asked for a subsidy, but eanuot help row, and offers \io hope t of any; but will 1 grnnt of wh\rf^e } Xe.