sugar-ant

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


a small ant, known in many partsof Australia by this name because of its fondness for sweetthings.

1896. `The Melbournian,' Aug. 28, p. 53:

«The sun reaches a sugar-ant and rouses him from his wintersleep. Out he scurries, glad to greet the warmth, and trackshurriedly around. He feels the sun, but the cold damp groundtells him the time is not yet come when at evening he willsally forth in long columns over the soft warm dust in searchof the morrow's meal; so, dazzled by the unaccustomed glare, heseeks his hiding-place once more.»

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