194 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



CHAPTER XIII. 



January 12 to January 27. 



Water. Rain. 



FLORENCE. Do you drink much? 



ANT. Ants like plenty of water, but can live a long 

 time without it. We get it at the hydrants, on sprinkled 

 lawns, and use fog, dew, or rain water. Some plants fur- 

 nish water and the soft parts of animal food contain much. 

 The walls of our lower rooms stay damp a long time, and 

 besides we dig wells to damper ground, too. 



KENNETH. I have laid a wet stick at your door and a 

 dozen ants are drinking. They got enough in three min- 

 utes, not very dry. Once I thought I'd give you enough 

 to eat and drink. This was the bill of fare : 



Raw green corn all carried indoors. 



Cooked green corn not touched. 



Rind of fig hardly noticed. 



Flesh of fig liked by a few ants. 



Rind of cantaloupe not touched. 



Honey cantaloupe several ate it. 



Raw potato but few cared for it. 



Raisin and prune well liked. 



Cooked squash no good. 



Fly 0. K. 



Cracked cantaloupe seed, squash seed, English walnut, 



filbert and almond all carried in. Ants preferred 



the walnut, 



DOROTHY. I gave our ants some sugar water. Why 

 did so manv fall in? 



