THE ANT AND THE CRICKET. 145 



plain as it might have been. The ant tugged its living load 

 up and down five swaying, bending twigs, wdthout mak- 

 ing any progress whatever before it found its way be- 

 neath the bough and resumed its journey. 



Then succeeded a few feet of uniform advance in com- 

 parative comfort, the ant taking a brief rest at frequent in- 

 tervals. It was during these rests that one could perceive 

 a special use for the characteristic "geniculate" or el- 

 bowed antennae of the ant tribe. The ant, evidently weari- 

 ed by the firm hold which it had maintained, would place 

 the "elbow" of an antenna closely over the body of the 

 cricket and then withdraw its mandibles. The slightest 

 movement of the cricket, detected by the sensitive anten- 

 na, caused the jaws to be snapped instantly in place again. 

 For the most part, however, the cricket remained passive, 

 merely waving its long, slender antennae in the seeming pa- 

 thos of despair. 



A few feet beyond the pine bough, there was real trouble. 

 Agalena, the grass spider, had her flat web stretched direct- 

 ly across the way w^hich the ant decided to take. This 

 could not have been the way by which the ant came, for the 

 web was entire and undisturbed. That the ant should at- 

 tempt to cross it is rather against the trail and scent theory; 

 but perhaps the ant, finding its undertaking so great, ven- 

 tured upon a little independent action of its own. If so, the 

 result was seemingly depressing to the spirit of independ- 

 ence and discouraging to originality. The ant dragged 

 its load straight toward the center of the web. Agalena 

 ran away, as she always does when any serious disturbance 

 occurs, and the ant had nothing to fear from her. But it 

 was desperate work, breaking down the threads and drag- 

 ging the cricket through the tangled meshes of silk. It 

 was done at last, however, and the ant took a long rest, after 

 which it proceeded deliberately to scrape off the silken 

 threads with which it was encumbered. As for the crick- 



