THE CARPENTER ANT 185 



and the body walked up to the last two. Other ants have 

 been known to live from three to four weeks after such an 

 accident. 



ALBERT. Last summer I picked up the rind of a 

 honey-melon. The lone Carpenter that was on it lay down 

 on her side as if dead. 



KENNETH. Have you given all the reasons for so 

 many dead Carpenters around here? Our ants have been 

 carrying them by the dozen all fall. 



ANT. Their natural home is over in the foothills. When 

 they move to town many of their colonies die off. They 

 are learning to be a house ant, you know, since the discov- 

 ery of America. 



DOROTHY. I saw one today running from cover to 

 cover along the sidewalk. 



FLORENCE. Once last fall I put some sugar on a 

 blackberry and fed some Carpenters. Their abdomens be- 

 came four times as big as at first. 



KENNETH. Once I turned my flashlight on fifty Car- 

 penters that were eating a melon, and half of them ran 

 away. But the books say they are entirely blind, and I 

 suppose they are. 



FLORENCE. A boy brought a big Carpenter to school 

 and asked us to let it bite us. He said it wouldn't hurt. 

 He was showing us how to let it get hold of the skin be- 

 tween the thumb and finger when it got a better hold than 

 he intended. You ought to have seen him dance and 

 heard him howl as he ran to his teacher for help. 



KENNETH. The Carpenters don't travel around much 

 after the rainy season begins. Our ants will not bring in 

 many of their bodies then. The Carpenters house-up 

 for winter. 



