52 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



its abdomen back and forth on each other, as if breathing. 

 These plates have files on the overlapping edges and so the 

 ant, too, may be fiddling or is it just running that phono- 

 graph? Just think of all the talking machines our ants 

 have! , ,i j 



FLORENCE. See if you can make a noise by stamping 

 your foot on the ground. Ha, ha, ha ! 



ANT. You needn't laugh. Some colonies can make a 

 noise like a rattlesnake makes by butting their heads 

 against the walls of their house or by striking the walls 

 with their abdomens. They butt for the same reason a 

 rattler rattles, too. 



Parts of an Ant. Craw, Gizzard, Hair. 



CECIL. I can't make out the parts of an ant. 



ANT. You surely know the legs, feelers and head. The 

 large back part of an ant is called the abdomen, and you 

 know that, too. The part the legs are on is called the 

 thorax, and the little tube that connects the thorax and 

 abdomen is called the pedicel. 



CECIL. Is the pedicel a part of the abdomen? 



ANT. Yes, and its two parts plus the four plates on 

 top of the abdomen make six in all for our kind of ant. 

 Even the back part of the thorax is really a part of the 

 abdomen. 



CECIL. I can see three plates, or parts, to your thorax, 

 too. 



ANT. The two long, sharp spines at the back part of 

 the thorax protect the pedicel from the bite of enemies. 



FLORENCE. You have two humps on your pedicel, but 

 the Carpenter has only one. Come to think of it, there 

 are single humped and double humped camels. 



