CARRYING THINGS. TRAILS 97 



the sick or worn-out or one that has been exposed to some 

 catching disease. 



DOROTHY. I thought an ant always carried the sick 

 away from home and never to the home. 



CECIL. If an ant had a sunstroke or a chill on the 

 trail, I think another ant might carry it home. The books 

 say that ants may carry home the lazy, but I think the 

 "lazy" include those that have had a sunstroke or chill or 

 something, and may get well. 



DOROTHY. Just how does one ant carry another? 



CECIL. By a leg, or the back, or jaw, but seldom by 

 a feeler. I think an ant could easily lift and carry a dozen 

 of its kind, but I can't say as much for myself. 



FLORENCE. Just see what a load man can carry and 

 how far. I haven't seen you carry your small load over 

 eighty feet. 



ANT. Eighty feet is 3,840 times my length. If a man 

 is five and a half feet tall, he should be able to carry or 

 drag his loads four miles, to equal what I do. 



FLORENCE. But look at the small weight of your 

 loads. 



CECIL. I've been figuring on this. I laid the kernel of 

 a hubbard squash seed on the ridge of our ants' yard. From 

 two to six ants moved it a foot, and then one took it in its 

 jaws, stood on the edge of the vertical wall by the door, 

 and let it dangle against the side. 



ANT. See? That seed would weigh thirty times as 

 much as the ant (maybe twice that), and thirty times the 

 weight of a man would be about two and a fourth tons. 

 Could a man lift that much with his teeth? 



DOROTHY. I fear it would pull his head off. 



CECIL. I gave the ants several such kernels, and they 

 dragged them home. One was laid twenty-five feet from 



