FEELERS 41 



FLORENCE. I see. The ants must have poise, as our 

 teacher says. 



Peelers. 



DOROTHY. How about your feelers? 



ANT. Oh, our feelers are such wonderful organs and 

 used for so many purposes that nobody knows all about 

 them. Of course, we have other organs of sight, sound, 

 smell, taste and feeling. Our feelers, though, can do the 

 work of these better, and a lot of things besides. 



DOROTHY. Then how are we to know anything about 

 the "lot of things"? 



ANT. You can't. I guess man has special senses he 

 hasn't discovered yet or else he has forgotten about them. 

 Then why be surprised at ours? 



DOROTHY. My hand and arm together are a little like 

 your feeler. You and I each have an elbow in our feelers 

 and we each cross feelers when we meet our friends, don't 

 we? We call it shaking hands. 



ALBERT. What if you should lose a feeler? 



ANT. It would be the same for me as removing the 

 front part of your brain would be for you. If I should 

 lose my feelers, I couldn't find my way; I wouldn't know 

 our own ants or my home, and I couldn't hunt food, or 

 attend the babies, or do anything. 



ALBERT. Our teacher says that a great man by the 

 name of Darwin said that the brain of an ant is the most 

 wonderful particle of matter in the world. 



ANT. I guess he meant to include the feelers. An 

 insect's feeler and a bat's wing are the most sensitive 

 organs in nature. The bat's brain is spread out over its 

 wings and the insect's, over its feelers. 



