40 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



ALBERT. I suppose the ant would have injured her 

 leg if she had pulled the head loose broken the leg. 



CECIL. I read that in South America "native doctors 

 will close a wound, let the big jaws of soldier ants clasp 

 the edges of it, and then cut their heads off. The jaws 

 still hold the edges of the wound as if sewed together." 



FLORENCE. Well, I examined your mouth through a 

 glass today. It looked like a round hole in the bottom of 

 your skull. You had drawn it back. I see now why you 

 don't get jabbed in the mouth when running through 

 tangled weeds. 



ANT. Uh-hu ! 



FLORENCE. You must be a blind bonehead. You are 

 always butting into something, and yet never crack your 

 skull. I doubt if another animal could digest it. 



ANT. My skull is hard and thick, and in waves or folds. 

 That kind of a sphere is hard to crush. But I don't bump 

 into something as often as you think I do. I can stop 

 quickly after a feeler touches an object. 



CECIL. A certain ant can snap its jaws together against 

 some hard object and throw itself as far as eighteen inches. 

 In this way it dodges its enemies. Maybe you don't know 

 that some ants can leap from twig to twig a distance of 

 several feet. I don't believe any ant can dodge sidewise. 



FLORENCE. I don't think our ants could dodge any- 

 thing. Why do they work their jaws so slowly, even in a 

 fight? 



ALBERT. Suppose my arms were razors, worked like 

 scissors, and that I was blind. I guess I better not use 

 them carelessly in a crowd, especially if my muscles were 

 many times stronger than they are. I might behead some 

 of my friends or cut their legs off. But we've yet to learn 

 why the speed varies. 



