THEIR IND US TRY. II 



do harm by sucking up the juices of the grow- 

 ing plant. The ant comes up the tree to hia 

 dairy farm, and strokes one of the green lice 

 with his feeler; the louse gives out a single 

 drop of clear liquid, which the ant drinks. 

 Then he goes to the next, and so on, milking 

 his cows, or gathering honey-dew. When he 

 has enough, he goes back to his work, digging, 

 building, or feeding the young ants. 



The working ant does a great deal of work 

 in a day. M. Huber, a French naturalist, gives 

 an account of a single day's work of one ant. 

 The insect first dug in the earth a groove or 

 road, about a quarter of an inch deep and four 

 inches long. The dirt which he took out, he 

 kneaded into pellets, and placed on each side 

 of his road, to make a wall. When this road 

 was finished, very smooth and straight, he 

 found that another was wanted, and he made 

 that in the same manner, and about the same 

 size. A man, to have done as much in propor- 

 tion to his size, must have dug two ditches, 

 each four and a half feet deep, and seventy-two 



