32 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



home of the new family. Look at this old ball. You can 

 see the hole through which the new family escaped. 



KENNETH. A boy at school told me he found a family 

 of ants living in one of these old oak balls. 



ALBERT. Some kinds of ants live in the thorns of 

 certain acacia trees. The plant pays the ants for defend- 

 ing the tree with honey found at the base of each leaf. 



CECIL. Yes, and this is the same ant that sends its 

 soldiers down to the foot of the tree to keep away enemy 

 ants that want to cut the leaves off. I suppose the tree is 

 glad to have one kind of ant protect it from the other kind. 



Honey Ants. 



ALBERT. Is it true that certain ants over in Arizona 

 hang up some of their family to the ceiling sometimes as 

 many as three hundred and use them as honey-pots? 



ANT. Yes, and a honey-pot ant looks like a grain of 

 wheat attached to a big cherry. The cherry is the pot 

 (abdomen). The rest of the ant is the grain of wheat. 

 The ant holds onto the ceiling with its claws. When it 

 happens to fall down and tries to walk, its feet doesn't 

 touch the ground half the time, and it has to be helped 

 back to the ceiling. 



ALBERT. How do the other ants fill the pot? 



ANT. They get some honey drops from the skin of oak 

 galls, put it into the mouth of the honey-pot 'ant, and she 

 swallows it and stores it away in her craw. Then she 

 feeds it to other hungry ants. The Indians dig up the 

 nests and break the jars when they want to get the honey. 

 The natives of Brazil and Central Africa think that ants 

 themselves make very good eating. 



ALBERT. I guess our Bean Gang better start a honey- 

 pot farm. 



