120 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



they may prove to be symbols of destruction. You can't 

 tell yet. Are you more civilized than the ancient Greeks? 



CECIL. Our ants have hulled a thousand salt grass 

 seeds and dumped the hulls out. 



ALBERT. Some think that the ants nip the germ of a 

 seed to keep it from sprouting, but I can't see that they do. 



CECIL. I'd rather think they treat their grain with 

 some fluid for that purpose. I've noticed that some of the 

 oats kernels are ripped open down the soft side. 



ALBERT. Many ants seem to depend mainly on plants 

 for food. 



CECIL. Yes. Plants produce seed, the chief food of 

 many ants. They give ants many kinds of sap from differ- 

 ent parts. Plant lice and scales live on the juices of 

 plants, change them a little and feed them to ants. Plants 

 furnish ants with water in dry times. They furnish homes 

 for ants and protection. 



Do Certain Ants of a Colony Do Certain Kinds of Work? 



ALBERT. Your colony has many different kinds of 

 work to do. Are certain ants assigned to each kind? That 

 is, do you have "division of labor"? 



ANT. We have foragers that gather food, threshers that 

 husk it, laborers that carry out the chaff, miners that 

 make our house, graders that shape our yard, wood chop- 

 pers to clear our ground and make our trails, and 



ALBERT. Hold on! You are claiming 



ANT. We have policemen to guard our house; soldiers 

 that are ready to fight ; doorkeepers at our granaries ; 

 nurses for our eggs, babies, kings, queens and hungry 

 workers; undertakers to care for the dead, crippled and 

 sick, and servants to wash us and keep us clean. 



ALBERT. You are claiming too much. 



