BLACK HARVESTER 37 



CECIL. The head of one of our ants is about the size 

 of a small pinhead the longest diameters being about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch. The head of the big ant that visits 

 ours is about twice that long and of the small ones that 

 are so common, only half as long as that of one of ours. 

 Nearly all ants have fierce-looking jaws. 



ALBERT. I see you use your big jaws as scissors to cut 

 with, as a comb to clean your front legs with, as picks in 

 mining a cave for a home, as trowels in making earth pel- 

 lets, and as shovels and baskets in moving earth. 



ANT. Yes, and I use them in capturing game for food, 

 in holding food while I eat it, in feeding others, in husking 

 seed, and sometimes in building walls. 



CECIL. Your jaws are also used in carrying rubbish, 

 skeletons, and sick and crippled ants out of the house and 

 in carrying eggs, babies, queens and tired ants. They seem 

 to be your chief weapon of warfare, also. Why, you 

 couldn't get along without jaws any better than I could 

 without hands and arms. 



ANT. No. You have legs and arms, and I have legs 

 and jaws, and we get along about the same. Arms and 

 jaws are each many tools in one. 



DOROTHY. Don't you chew with your big jaws? 



ANT. Why, no. If your hands were on your head, you 

 wouldn't chew with them, would you? They wouldn't be 

 in your mouth, would they? 



DOROTHY. Well, I think your jaws might be called 

 one of your mouth parts. I must take my glass sometime, 

 and find out if I can see your real mouth. 



ANT. It is under my big jaws. I can draw it back or 

 push it out. It has another pair of weak flat jaws at the 

 sides to help handle the food, and two more pairs of little 

 feelers. My upper lip is long and bends down over my 

 lower one, when my mouth is shut. 



