IO4 LIVING CREATURES. 



Jenny. But why do you not go and share in the 

 feast with the others, Mrs. Ant? Do not let me de- 

 tain you, if you wish to go. 



Ant. Thank you ; I do not care for it. I am going 

 to milk one of our cows by and by. 



Jenny. Why, what do you mean ? 



Ant. I am going to milk one of our cows, I say. 

 What is there surprising about that? Your father 

 keeps several cows, does he not? 



Jenny. Why yes. But ants ! Pray how large are 

 your cows? 



Ant. They are very small,- not quite so large as we 

 ourselves. Just turn up the leaves of that rose-bush. 

 There ! Do you not see a number of little pale green 

 insects? 



Jenny. Yes ; I have often seen them before. They 

 are plant-lice, and they do a great deal of harm to the 

 shrubs. 



Ant. Well, however that may be, the aphides, or 

 plant-lice, are our little cows, and yield us an abun- 

 dance of nice milk as sweet as honey. Very frequently 

 they live in the nest with us, feeding sometimes upon 

 the roots of the plants about us, and sometimes upon 

 the provisions we carry in for them. We take good 

 care of them and of their young, keeping their eggs in 

 the warmest part of the nest, in order that they may 

 hatch out early and so supply us in the spring. Now 

 I will milk one of them. You see I pat it gently with 

 my feelers, when it gives out two drops of clear sweet 

 fluid. These cows are our most valuable property, 

 and we should fight furiously, if any one should inter- 

 fere with them. 



