108 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



CHAPTER VII. 



August 20 to September 5. 



Food. 



ALBERT. A few scouts brought home a sample of 

 Bermuda grass seed. Then 700 started out for the harvest 

 field. One brought in a branch that had seven seeds on it. 



ANT. We like seeds best, but we bring in the bodies of 

 many animals, also. The sow bug has a hard shell like 

 the turtle's, and we can't capture it alive. 



KENNETH. When I tried to take a large sleek pupa 

 case away from you, two other ants helped you hold on. 

 After I dragged it six inches you spent fifteen minutes 

 trying to gnaw one end open. 



ANT. And you broke the end open for me and I tried 

 to crawl inside. You thought it was empty, but it wasn't, 

 for we dragged it home. 



ALBERT. Sometimes you bring one kind of seed home 

 and sometimes another. You seem to take whichever is 

 the handier. 



ANT. Of course, we often have to take what we can 

 get, but I think you will find we have a choice in some 

 cases. 



DOROTHY. If you are about blind, I don't see how you 

 find such small seeds. 



ANT. We use our feelers, mouth-parts, feet and sense 

 of smell. If we had big wet eyes like yours, they would 

 get full of sticks and dirt, and they wouldn't be of any 

 account at night or in our dark house. 



