54 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



ANT. She has. It pumps the food into the craw and 

 then pumps it from the craw into the stomach; or, as some 

 think, back to the mouth to feed others. 



CECIL. I see. The large abdomen is the storehouse for 

 liquid food that may be drawn on for months if other 

 foods be scarce, or it may be the only way to carry liquid 

 food home to the family, as the Carpenter has to do. 



ANT. That ant couldn't store her liquid food in a gran- 

 ary, like we do seeds, of course. 



ALBERT. How can you raise your abdomen with those 

 two sharp spines pointing back toward it? 



ANT. The spines are far enough apart to let the pedicel 

 slip up between them. 



FLORENCE. I'm surprised at the number of hairs when 

 I look at you through the glass. 



ANT. You have hairs all over you, too, except the 

 bottom of your feet, the palm of your hands, and the last 

 joint of your fingers and toes. As I have told you, some 

 of our hairs are changed into organs that have many uses 

 many that man can never understand. Touch some hairs 

 on the back of your hand and see if you can understand 

 how we use them as organs of touch. Do the hairs ever 

 tell you when a fly is walking on your arm? 



FLORENCE. Go on. 



ANT. Our hairs are coarse and long on the body, shorter 

 and more of them on the legs, and very short and still 

 more of them on the feelers. Some of them don't look like 

 hairs. 



DOROTHY. I notice that miners wear theirs off 

 against weeds and the walls of the house, I suppose. 



ANT. Hairs are movable at the base and have nerves 

 entering them. 



