6 ABOUT ANTS. 



wakes them again. If they did lay up food, it 

 would not be grain, for the ant can no more 

 eat grain than a man can eat gold, and the ant 

 is not so bier a fool as to hoard what he can not 

 use. 



Others have thought that these little white 

 sacks are the eggs of the ants ; but eggs do 

 not grow, and surely ants can not lay eggs that 

 are larger than themselves. Whatever they 

 are, the ants evidently think them very valua- 

 ble. Away they go, over the clumps of earth, 

 and through the tiny streets, as if to see what 

 has happened, and estimate the damage. They 

 don't quite understand it, but they are agreed 

 that one thing is to be done forthwith — these 

 precious little sacks must be carried in, out of 

 danger. So each grasps the nearest, and drags 

 it away to the hole in the centre, the gateway 

 of the inner town, where you see the throng 

 coming out. The sack is larger than the ant, 

 but he seizes it resolutely, and raises it over 

 his head. i^.way he creeps, but it strikes 

 thai block of sand at the street corner, ana 



