62 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



time contact-odor gives us a picture of a thing like you 

 get through your eyes, but you can't understand how it 

 does so. 



ALBERT. Name some of your odors. 



ANT. The nest odor lets us know our ants from others 

 even when out of doors and helps us find our nest when 

 near it. Then there is the trail odor. Each ant also has 

 its own odor. Why, the odor of an ant may change every 

 few months. One ant can't deceive the rest about her age. 



ALBERT. Your world must be different from ours. 



ANT. Then there is the queen odor and the odor of 

 eggs and babies at different stages. An ant can give off 

 different kinds of odors when it wants to. 



ALBERT. They say formic acid used to be made from 

 ants. 



ANT. Yes; most ants give off formic acid odor and 

 various other kinds when they want to do so. These odors 

 leave the ant as liquids, but evaporate or even explode on 

 coming into air, and change to gases. 



ALBERT. I understand. 



ANT. Of course we use some of these liquids and gases 

 as ammunition in attacking enemies. 



ALBERT. I suppose that ants have been gassing the 

 enemy for a good while long before man learned how to 

 do so? 



ANT. Yes, for a few million years, as your professor 

 would say. An ant might spray it in the air, shoot it, 

 smear it, or run a spine into the enemy, and then force the 

 acid out at the end of the spine. 



ALBERT. You couldn't smell with your feelers because 

 they are dry. If my nose were not moist inside, I couldn't 

 smell. 



ANT. We have little changed hairs on our feelers that 

 are kept moist. The outer edge of a feeler is covered with 



